On today’s International Volunteer Day, Frieder Otto Wolf expressed his heartfelt thanks to the citizens who volunteer in a humanistic sense. Speaking in Berlin, Wolf said that he was extremely pleased to see the diverse and enduring commitment in all parts of Germany and beyond. From his perspective, people who dedicate their time, energy and creativity to humanist works of honor make indispensable contributions to our society.
“There are at least two resounding reasons why voluntary commitment is indispensable for practical humanism and cannot be replaced by good and comprehensive full-time professionalism: Quantitatively, the tasks that practical humanism has to deal with are always so great for good reasons (and with a strong upward trend to boot) that professional forces will never be able to cope with these tasks as a whole – and qualitatively, the ‘closeness to life’ of this practical commitment, i.e. The ‘relevance to life’ of this practical commitment, i.e. its ability to repeatedly address the real needs of the people concerned and not to become ‘detached’ and independent, is decisively determined by the fact that new subjects of contemporary social practice keep getting involved – and not just the professionals who were initially important as practical participants in social, political and cultural initiatives,” says Frieder Otto Wolf. “It should also be noted that volunteers always perform an important function as contacts and ambassadors in their contexts outside of organized humanism,” Wolf continued. People’s commitment to humanist works of honour should therefore always be embedded in a “worthy culture of recognition, in which gratitude for the work performed on a voluntary basis is so clearly recognizable that it becomes a source of strength and motivation in itself. The culture of recognition should not be spared,” said Frieder Otto Wolf. Marieke Prien, President of the International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organization, said: “It is clear to me that voluntary work is at least as important as professional staff. The latter do outstanding work and form the foundation for the commitment of volunteers,” said the 25-year-old. Volunteer humanists increase the diversity of organized humanism and promote the emergence of new dynamics, she emphasized. “In addition, the many volunteers also carry their commitment into their private lives, where they live their humanist values and tell their friends about their activities. This also helps to spread our understanding of humanism. For me, the greatest motivation is to see that projects are successful and have a good reach. The association should therefore provide the volunteers with the necessary resources and support so that the projects can have this success,” says Marieke Prien.
