I believe that every individual has a responsibility in society to build up a better community—thus, a true social structure. In Judaism, for example, this social task is known as tikkun olam, which translates to “world repair.” It refers to any human activity that contributes to improving the world, bringing it closer to the harmonious state for which it was initially created.
All human actions are opportunities to fulfill this mission, and each human being—regardless of customs, background or beliefs—can participate in world repair through volunteerism, in which we go beyond good intentions and make a personal decision to take action. With volunteer work, everyone wins. And in my experience, the person who provides the help without expecting anything in return benefits substantially. The pleasure of devoting time, energy and knowledge is difficult to express in words.
It’s time to work together in search of solutions to the problems we are facing and share the best practices.
My first volunteering experience was at the age of 13 or 14. A group of young people went to work in Pahuatlán, a small Mexican town located in the Sierra Madre Oriental. For a week, we worked onsite painting the facade of a church, doing landscaping at the plaza and paving the roads while we talked, ate, played and laughed with people. We certainty learned about their customs and came to understand a reality completely foreign to what we had lived.
We took part in this experience three times while I was at school. By the age of 19, I had gone through a life-moving experience regarding the importance of helping others, as well as had the opportunity to meet 120 young university students from around the world. Those involved represented more than 40 nationalities and a diversity of religions, such as Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus and even Zoroastrians—one of the oldest religions from Persia—which made this experience even more exciting.
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Since then, I have both participated in and encouraged volunteer work at every opportunity, either through the university, my community, my own company and now proudly and satisfactorily with MPI.
Being a volunteer requires commitment and responsibility, as any task one might undertake. Despite not receiving payment in exchange for the time spent, the work must be performed professionally, ensuring good quality and dedication to achieving the given objectives. On many occasions, people get confused and believe volunteer work can be performed poorly and delivered late or incomplete. But making such a mistake might negatively affect that person’s professional life.
Collaboration from everyone will be essential to get ahead, and it’s even more important considering the global coronavirus crisis that is affecting us all. Through collaboration, we help others and ourselves, and it’s more important than ever to do so through a community that shares the same interests and objectives. Hence, the importance of belonging to an association such as MPI. Thanks to the work of so many people—including MPI staff leaders and, especially, volunteers who dedicate countless hours—it’s clear that recent educational initiatives and human relationships are key to our collective wellbeing and will power the engine that moves us ahead together.
Learn more insights from Michel and other thought leaders in our “State of the Industry” preview. Why are you passionate about this stressful industry?
In this great community called MPI, more than 17,000 members share expectations, information, ways of thinking and help advance one another’s professional and commercial interests. We are a global community that spans most of the world. It’s time to work together in search of solutions to the problems we are facing and share the best practices. The fact that we must stay in our homes during this pandemic forces us to connect through social networks, e-mail and SMS systems such as WhatsApp. It’s time to take advantage of these means of communication to share ideas with people from all over the world and, in this way, find answers to the challenges that we have recently faced.
It’s also time to share our knowledge and strengths. Those who are part of the meeting industry have great qualities—for example, an excellent capacity for planning and organization. We are experts at solving problems in very short time periods for specific events. We are also creative, since every arranged event is different. It’s time to volunteer our help to society and our governments.
We have seen human beings portrayed as “complainers,” and social networks have boosted this conception by offering anonymity. Today more than ever, it’s time to be realistic and positive, take action, react, help and collaborate. It’s high time to “repair the world” together.Photo by ray sangga kusuma on Unsplash
