Journal: 2-1

Veterans and Volunteering

     Last week I asked a question about whether or not being closer to the middle of the chart on the political compass website meant that you were going to win. I used this arguement in my prevoius blog because I believed that if you were closer to the middle, you appealed to a greater amount of people. So I went back onto the website and did some out side research on the topic.

     I soon realized that almost every party or candidate that was closest to the middle of the chart never won. Also, I noticed in alot of accounts that the people in the middle often received the least amount of votes in the elections. For example, in the 2008 Canadian elections the winning party with the most votes was the conservatives which happened to be on the far right of the political spectrum and the Green party which was right in the middle, hardly received any votes at all.

     I guess this proves that you can not predict the outcome of an election strictly based on where they are on the political spectrum. It always matters on the issues of modern day society and also the personalities of those running for election.

     In honor of Veteran's day, this past week we watched a documentary entitled "The Way We Get By" which talked about a group of veterans called the Maine Troop Greeters who helped to give support to troops flying in and out of the country. We also discussed issues that dealt with the problems veterans have in today's society and also discussed about how the elderly veteran's by supporting their troops were improving their health by volunteering.

     For me, I was really intrigued about the idea that just simply volunteering could make a big difference in your health. This concept was clearly illustrated in this documentary that we watched. The elderly veterans felt as though volunteering gave them a very important purpose in life, because they felt like they couldn't contribute much more to society in any other way. Based on this alone, I believ that volunteering can make you healthier. It can give you a will to live so you don't give up when you're down or sick.

     Since it is becoming more well known that volunteering can improve your health, maybe that's why so much volunteering legislation has been passed recently in order to make more volunteering organizations. Some examples include: Peace Corps, VISA, NCSA, Senior Corps, Ameri Corps, Learn and Sevre America, and the most recent one, The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act which Obama passed in 2009. Most of these just called to expand operations that have already been established so that more people can become involved and improve their health as well as their happiness.

     I end my blog with a question. Can volunteering ever improve a person's physical health, more so than their mental health?

"2008 Canadian Election Results." SFU.ca. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/results.html>.

"Gateway Senior Services and Volunteering." Welcome to Gateway Senior Services Located in Lincoln, Nebraska. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://www.gatewayseniorliving.com/volunteer.html>.

“Veteran’s Day Parade and Events.” Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://www.polkveteranscouncil.org/veteransday.html>.