Be a 'Giver'

Time is a funny thing. It is the commodity of our life. It can be spent in exchange for money. It can be spent in exchange for pleasure. We bargain with our time, and divide it between things that are important to us. The most difficult thing may be balancing our time.

Balancing our time between what we want to do, what we need to do, and what we should do is a constant challenge. Is it even possible these days to make time for others? Giving away our precious time for other people, even strangers, is perhaps the most valuable gift we can give, especially if we do it right.

The TV evangelists and charitable organizations might beg to differ. They might say that giving our money would be better. I disagree. I would even say that if we really cared about a cause or an organization, we would volunteer our time.

The best thing about giving away our time to a cause we care about is that we invariably don't do it alone. Nobody really wants to go be with a bunch of strangers, even if the folks you meet volunteering are just about the friendliest bunch ever. That is why we bring the whole family, or at least a good friend with us. Bringing someone along makes the volunteer time more fun personally, and it doubles (or even quadruples) the amount of work that an organization can get done. It is a Win-Win! All of a sudden, what we thought of as a nice way to give back, becomes a fun time for us and our friends or family.

I started thinking about it last week when some Jeeper friends of mine let the off-road community know about a trail system in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom that had been over-used. The Vermont Jeep Association (Group of Jeepers who care) is a member of Tread Lightly! We adhere to their goals in order to keep environmental impacts of four wheeling as low as possible.We do not over use trails, we do not just spin our tires in the mud. We do, however, still get out there and have fun.

When the club learned about the overuse and trash that had accumulated, the volunteer spirit came out. All sorts of folks volunteered to make an organized date, bringing pickup truck beds to fill with trash, and work gloves to repair the trails. It is not too often that the off-road community steps in to work on public land, which is what makes this special.

What we do for the land is also great, but no matter what net impact we might have on the land, giving our time is the greatest show of support. It shows that we really do care about the land, and Tread Lightly! ideals. Just making time to do what we can is the best way to give back to the communities we live in, and love. We are choosing to spend the time for others, not playing golf, or swimming with the kids.

But ya' know what? We'll have just as much fun doing work as we would have at a barbecue. The food might not be as good (PB&J vs ribs), but spending that time with friends is the important thing, and the best way we can give back.