Universal Florida and more 4/8

Universal Studios

Jun 30


With just a couple of to spare before dinner, a quick dash was made to the nearby Universal Studios. I’d already visited the Universal Studios in Los Angeles and in many ways both parks were similar. I am sure that since this was newer theme park, many things would be probably been built on a bigger and on a grander scale. But after Islands of Adventure, this was rather tame. 


The best ride and show – the Terminator show and the Simpson’s Ride. 


The disappointment – the 3D Men in Black Ride.  


Shop till you drop….  Universal CityWalk and Downtown Disney


The Universal Citywalk is prominently positioned at the entrance to both their theme parks, so its hard not to miss it. You pretty much have to walk through it to get to the theme parks.


When families and tourists are on a spending spree at theme parks, why not provide them with more opportunities to spend by keeping them there all day. Why not provide them total entertainment, shopping and dining packages all in one place. Universal Citywalk and Downtown Disney in Orlando, both serve this purpose. Evening concerts, movie theatres and of course restaurant after restaurant fill the place. No doubt there is stuff to see and do in these two places but cursory visits were all that the tired mater and pater could muster. 

Ok, so I include moi in the "tired by end of day" as well!, especially as I had been walking all day. 


After walking all day, standing in lines at rides at the theme parks, one (or rather most people) are rather fatigued, so its amazing to see so many people going strong at these places at all hours. 


1. OJ State Vacation

2. Wizarding World of Harry Potter

3. Islands of Adventure

4. Universal Studios, City Walk, Downtown Disney

5. Typhoon Lagoon and Back to Islands of Adventure

6. NASA - Kennedy Space Center

7. Everglades - River of Grass

8. ParaSailing at SoBe


Islands of Adventure 3/8

(My OJ State Vacation Saga  - Part 3 of 8)


Islands of Adventure


A lot is packed into this one theme park at Universal Orlando. While the Harry Potter section definitely hogs the limelight, this park really has a lot of other cool stuff. There are some six different islands or area, each offering a different themed adventure. 


One of the best rides had to be the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman – a 3D Simulation ride. It is amazing how our sensory system can be tricked into thinking that it is free falling from the top of a skyscraper, with the tilt of the car we ride in and visual images that flash before our eyes. Numerous arch-villains of Spiderman turn up with their heinous schemes to do away with us, but Spidey always swings in to the rescue and saves the day. The island that this was in, was of course the “Marvel Super Hero” Island. Much like the comics, the buildings in this area has exaggerated comic-book facades and dialogue snippets enclosed in cloud bubbles. I have to admit, the loud music that bombarded the ears and the exaggerated facades were a bit overwhelming for the sensory system. 


The Jurassic Park River Adventure was the other ride I enjoyed thoroughly. It’s a water ride through Jurassic Park (as shown in the movies). First the visitors are shown the human-friendly animatronics dinosaurs, but then the boat careens off into the predator area with raptors, broken fences and warning flashing lights.  Just as an enormous T-Rex lunges to make a snack out of you, the boat plunges down an 85 ft drop and the ride comes to an end. 


The Poseidon’s Fury show in the Greek themed Lost Continent has some interesting special effects, especially the water tunnel, the prisoners (audience) had to walk through, in the middle of the show. Weapons of flames and water were used and the captives were finally released. 


The Popeye Circular Raft was a nice wet ride, given that it was a hot summer day – everyone got drenched by a waterfall and splashes. It beats me how this ride ties into Popeye the Sailor Man rescuing his girl Olive Oil though. I really did not see the connection. The Ripsaw Falls ride in Toon Lagoon was probably the worst ride there – a violent rush up and down in a log ending with a sudden drop. 


A Great Fun-Packed Theme Park (with Harry Potter being the highlight of course)

Wizarding World of Harry Potter 2/8

My OJ State Vacation Part 2 of 8

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Jun 30


The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is the newest attraction in Universal’s “Islands of Adventure” theme park in Orlando, Florida.The park is just a year old, with JK Rowling and the HP actors (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Co) opening the attraction. Looking at the crowds heading that way, you would think that was the only attraction in that park. The brochures and billboards everywhere featured a lifesize, broom-riding Daniel Radcliffe clad in his Quidditch robes, with the words “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” embossed underneath. Why not just rename that theme park to "Harry Potter and Misc. Attractions?" Eager families were taking advantage of early-entry-to-the-park offers by various Universal hotels nearby, in hopes of beating those very crowds to the rides. In fact on entering the park, most people made a solid mass beeline to the Harry Potter Area.


The Harry Potter Area did not fail to live up to expectations. A towering Hogwarts Castle looked just as one imagined it would look and the way it looked in the movies, with its turrets and towers. Inside were recreations of Dumbledore’s study with a Phoenix in the background, talking portraits, wanted posters of Sirius Black and varied scenes from the books. The main Harry Potter ride (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) was a thrilling ride behind Harry, accompanied by Ron at times, both on broomsticks. They zoomed us through the castle grounds, passing a giant Hagrid, through and under the Quidditch field chasing the elusive snitch, a dive over the lake by the castle, past a Basilisk with its forked snake-tongue, giant spiders and flame breathing Dragons. Chilling dementors surround, and Harry comes to the rescue with his dementor-repelling “Expecto Patronum” spell at the end. The ride really encapsulated the best of the magic in the Harry Potter world. The others rides (Dragon Challenge, Flight of the Hippogriff) were more “regular roller-coaster” in nature.


A railway station with a full size replica of the Hogswarts Express stood at the entrance to the village of Hogsmeade, complete with a uniformed conductor who spoke with a British Accent. Though the train puffed, huffed  and whistled (at intervals), as would a stream engine, it would have been cooler if the train had moved and we’d gotten to ride it, inside of remaining stationary. It was more a Photo Stop, but a fine replication nevertheless.


The village of Hogsmeade was recreated complete with snow on the rooftops and a cobblestoned street. Refreshment Carts in the village street sold pumpkin juice and Butterbeer, amongst other things.  The Pumpkin Juice turned out to be apple juice with pumpkin flavor but in a bottle with a pumpkin shaped lid – the novelty was quite taking. Long lines formed in front of the Butterbeer carts. Butterbeer tumed out to be some kind of soda concoction with whipped butternut scotch cream on top – exact formula kept secret of course, but delicious nonetheless. (Dad claims I must have gulped at least 5 Butterbeers while I was there.) The “beer” in Butterbeer confused some visitors not familiar with the stories and vendors had to clarify that it was a non-alcoholic drink.  Hogsmeade was lined  with places like Honeydukes (which stocked Chocolate Frogs), The Three Broomsticks Inn, The Hog's Head Pub and an Owl Post.  Licensed Harry Potter merchandise abounded in the shops from T-shirts, tumblers, mugs, Caps, Rememberballs, Time turners, Snitches, Wands etc. Anything that could have the Harry Potter logo on it was found here. Ollivander’s Wand Shop, Zonko’s Joke Shop, and Dervish and Banges also found a spot in this Hogsmeade village, though in the book, these are in Diagon Alley in London. And of course there was Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods 


Ollivanders had his own show (called a life experience) with the theme being - "A Wand Chooses the Wizard." Of course during the show, wands flew off the shelves and lights flashed as Ollivander tried to select the right wand for one of the small girls in the audience. When he finally handed her a willow wand with a dragonstring heart, sparks flew and a spotlight beamed on her– indicating it was the right wand for her. The show followed a visit to Ollivander’s Wand shop with various wands for sale. There were the wands used by Harry, Ron, Hermoine, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Bellatrix etc on sale. But there were also 6-10 varieties of unnamed wands to be bought by the “emerging wizard” ie: us Muggles visiting the theme park. What a great marketing concept – every Harry Potter fan would want a favorite Character Wand plus a wand that is their very own.ie: buy 2 wands instead of one. 


The visit was a lovely nostalgic plunge into the HP books and world of magic, which abound with hope and possibilities. 

OJ State Vacation 1/8

OJ State Vacation

Jun 29


A visit to the Orange Juice State in July was undoubtedly the highlight of my summer. 


“Why Orange Juice?” you may ask. Why not call Florida by its official title - “Sunshine State”?  But isn’t summer “sunshine” shared by many states – a short stopover at Phoenix Airport gave witness to the intense sunshine (and heat) of its summer. Nearby Southern California  and Nevada abound in this intense summer heat. On the other hand, grocery stores all over the country and our very own breakfast tables constantly remind us of our daily association with Florida – the Orange Juice factor. Orange Juice in fact, became Florida’s official beverage in 1967. Incidentally, Brazil is the largest exporter of OJ worldwide, though Florida’s OJ dominates the US market.


Ironically, I don't think I had a single glass of OJ while I was in Florida. Instead I was drinking pineapple juice or some tropical mixed fruit juices...  Oh well..


Shakespeare Time

It is said that that the fundamental vices of the mind of man are  Kama (lust, desire), Krodha (anger, hatred), Lobha (greed, narrow mindedness), Mada (pride), Moha (delusion, emotional attachment) and Matsarya (envy, jealously). These are universal ideas present since time immemorial, irrespective of theology and philosophy. This makes Shakespeare relevant even today, as he explores these very values in man and the duality that exists in man, such as love and betrayal, jealously and friendship, bravery and cowardice, indecision and ambition, dishonor and morality.


Shakespearean characters have also become synonymous with certain characteristics eg: a couple in love on a tragic path are Romeo and Juliet. The current world around us and even our history is filled with such themes and such flaws. For example, we witness unscrupulous real-life dictators just like Macbeth (eg: Gadaffi, Sadaam). 


In addition to the universality of themes and characters, his works have provided a rich addition to the modern English vocabulary eg: words like assassination, outbreak, upstairs, bloodstained etc.  All these aspects make Shakespeare's plays timeless and relevant even for the modern reader.


This year we got to do Macbeth - filled with cauldron-stirring witches,  Scottish Generals, runaway ambition and a veritable blood-bath. Whew!

The Making of a Research Paper - Dopamine

Your teacher springs a research paper on you. What do you do? This is the Language course but the research topic was to be science-related. I could hear the virtual sighs of my classmates. Not everyone is a fan of science!!!


Choosing a research topic is probably the hardest thing in starting a research paper. There are just so many topics - the environment, the medical sciences, space.... Where do you start and where do you end? Your paper demands a tight thesis statement, especially if it is limited to 2400 words.


The process was interesting though. Lessons on plagiarism, and correct formatting of cited works. Putting citations in the correct MLA format just got a lot easier with sites like easybib.com. Put in all the information about your source and voila, out comes the nicely formatted output with all the italics and commas in place. It is not just a case of citing sources at the end but correcting referencing them during the course of your paper.


There were lessons on our interests and motivations, writing the thesis statement and outline. Our initial draft had to be turned into turnitin.com (checks for plagiarism) before it was submitted to the teacher for grading. And the best part was that if you got above 90 % in the first draft, you did not have to do a final draft and got full credit. 


So here's my research paper on the neurotransmitter Dopamine

Link to Paper


- Hari Srinivasan


Anonymous said...

Great Research!

Anonymous said...

Great post. I was checking continuously this blog and I'm impressed!
Extremely useful info specifically the last part :
) I care for such info a lot. I was seeking 
this certain info for a long time. Thank you and good luck.

Anonymous said...

Hi there, the whole thing is going nicely 
here and ofcourse every one is sharing data, that's truly excellent, keep up writing.


Recovered Memory - True or False?

We got to study Memory this time in our High School Psychology Elective


How do we remember?  

Is everything we remember really true?  

Are our memories subject to modification due to external sources?  


It was an interesting topic. For a long time the Freudian lead School of Psychoanalysis held sway. But of late, there has been a paradigm shift that raises some serious questions.

Recovered Memory - True or False?

Becoming Addicted to Behaviors

 Becoming Addicted to Behaviors


There exists a great deal of comfort in the human mind when definitions are laid out within well-defined boundaries. The definition of "Addiction" illustrates this dilemma. Traditionally the term was used primarily in conjunction with ingested substance addiction. But what of behavioral addictions built up due to repetitive uses and habits. It is as devastating in terms of its psychological, biological and social effects. Limiting a definition is really blinding oneself to the existence of other problems in the same vein. (Having said that, too broad a definition, as is the case with autism; which has become a catch-all bucket; really dilutes the possibility of quickly attaining meaningful solutions). 


The challenge is that understanding behaviors continues to be an enigma for scientists and sociologists alike, as we have not still fully understand the workings of the human mind. It is rational and irrational all at the same time. The human consciousness is a very complex process. So the debate continues as to whether we can group pyschoactive physical addictions (eg: drugs) and say, the pathological need to gamble, which is a process or activity addiction. Nevertheless I believe that both substance abuse and behavioral addictions are “additions” – both lead to neuroadaptation. Only if both are recognized as such, will efforts be made to find solutions. 


Behaviors in our society have changed in its nature and scope over the last few decades. The internet for example was non-existent 2 decades ago, as was the concept of internet-addiction. Expectations have also changed - life has become confusing and complex. Behaviors that arise almost as coping mechanisms soon become obsessive compulsive addictions. Why are there so many obese people (due to eating disorders) in a society outwardly obsessed with the unrealistic model-thin beauty. Have our societal expectations changed so much that a percentage of the population can no longer keep up and resorts to "quick-fix" behaviors. 


These behavioral patterns are quick-fixes to begin with, but their effect is intense in the pleasure derived. It acts as a powerful emotional operand and appears an inviting outlet in which to lose oneself from all the stresses of societal reality. The step from craving to compulsion blurs. The internet for instance offers the chance of becoming another virtual persona. You can be everything you are not in real life. 


The consequences don't seem bad either. After all you are not abusing drugs or drinking and driving. Ergo, there can be no perceived risks! Activity additions are not even viewed as potential addictions by its victim (denial). But when the repeated activity has significantly changed behavioral patterns (quantitatively) such that it dominates to the detriment of other behaviors, it has truly become an addiction. The strength of the addition and the subjective change in experience it brings can cause significant shifts in neurochemistry, just like in substance addiction. Ironically, substance addiction is easier to identify and therefore, easier to treat as there is a tangible object of addiction.       


Even from a purely behavioral viewpoint (BF Skinner), a person will engage in more of the behavior that is positively reinforced. A feel-good behavior is therefore likely to be repeated. If this cause –effect relationship resulting in a repeated behavior crosses a threshold where it becomes detrimental, it has then become an addiction. This can apply to all kinds of things – be it gambling, internet use, or over-eating. Indeed, people can become addicted to behaviors.

So you want to be a Wolf Biologist!!

A Wolf Biologist!! When my classmate expressed this as a career goal, I thought they must be joking. Perhaps the sudden craze over fictional werewolves and vampires brought this on. Owww..


Turns out it is a real bonafide job - a specialty of wildlife biology, requiring a graduate degree at the least. Wolf Biologists work in places like Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone's Wolf Project for instance is trying to reintroduce wolves back into the wild - a missing link in that ecosystem for over 60 years - due to human misconceptions about the wolf. As with all other wildlife biology, the fundamental task is to study and understand our wonderful fauna and help preserve its habitat. 


To the future Wolf Biologist in my class - Good Luck. And what a nice career goal.


Accidental Misfit

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly 


My image of the creature in Frankenstein, prior to reading, had been far from positive. In fact I thought the creature’s name was Frankenstein, given the title of the book. I did not realize that his creator was Victor Frankenstein and that the creature himself is unnamed in the story.  I imagined a huge, grotesque, green, human-like figure that went around murdering innocents, for no rhyme or reason. Why green? – I don’t know, maybe I was confusing him with the Incredible Hulk who is a perpetual state of rage. Or perhaps since he was made of dead body parts, the green color represented the decayed body. The creature was in my mind just pure evil, a one-man slaughterhouse for any human that crossed his path. Perhaps he even tortured his victims before killing them. Maybe he even ate them. 

I felt that the creation itself was possibly an act of accident on the part of a wayward scientist -  Victor Frankenstein, which resulted in this intensely furious monster, bent on destruction, much like that depicted in many monster movies. Such a monster would logically chase and try to wipe out his creator and kin. For me, the two figures were on either side of black and white. The creator was the innocent victim; the creature was this evil black-hearted aggressor to be destroyed. A number of humans were bound to be killed over the course of the story to justify this. The happy ending would have been the creator destroying this evil creature and saving the girl.   

Reading the story put a different perspective on the characters of both Victor Frankenstein and the creature. It brought out the humanness of the creature and contrasted it with the duplicity of Frankenstein. It told the story of an accidental grotesque misfit, who desperately sought societal approval and of a scientist who did not want to take responsibility for his actions.  



Rest of Commentary continued on my Academic Blog. 

http://hariatwork.blogspot.com/2011/03/frankenstein-by-mary-shelley.html

Advent Into Year Sixteen

Advent into Year Sixteen


Advent into year sixteen. 

Has it been that long already?

I was a mere three yesterday

Burdened with a diagnosis 


Mind in thick fog and haze

The way, an intricate maze

Floundering and circling

Blinding darkness all around


Puzzled and perplexed

A stream of therapists 

Who am I, who are they?

What is this endless craze


Sunbeams, a thinning fog

Reach out to the hand of God.

Mind begins to contemplate

Body (unfortunately) continues it's own way


Thoughts continue to weave and fabricate

The keyboard unlocks communication

Education, now a reality

Though not all solutions are in place


I cross the threshold of year sixteen

Nervous anticipation writ large on my face

But the steps are lighter and surer

The road has sunnier shades of hue


Prof Stephen Hawking

On a person who represents the theme “Life is a Challenge, Meet it”


Prof Stephen Hawking


Prof Stephen Hawking is one of the world’s brilliant theoretical physicists. Like other great scientific minds, he has worked on the basic scientific laws that govern the Universe. His work on black holes has especially been path-breaking.  His work has resulted in the unification of Einstein’s General Relativity and Quantum Theory, which is a significant development in that field. Some of the conjectures from his work are that black holes are not really black and that the universe has no boundaries.


Sound familiar?  Swami is Kalathithaya – beyond space and time and limitless. How then can the universe have boundaries? Science is just the ‘explainable’ component of spirituality.


Stephen Hawking was born in Jan 8, 1942 in Oxford England. You could say the first two decades of his life was fairly uneventful compared to the latter half. In a nutshell


-    His first choice, math, was not available, so he took up physics in college.

-    He was not a great student, with borderline marks – he needed a makeup oral exam at one point to pass.  

-    He did not read much and did not take notes either in college. 


He started to develop atypical ALS at around age 19. He started off by being increasingly clumsy. ALS is a degenerative motor-neuron disease, where the patient progressively loses neuro-muscular control. Most patients don’t last more than 10 years. He did not know if he would live to finish his PhD.


After an initial bout with depression, he decided “if I was going to die anyway, it might as well do some good”. He went on to finish his PhD in Cosmology, married and got a fellowship at Cambridge. 


In a way he says he was fortunate to be in the field of theoretical physics because “ that is all in the mind. No physical ability is required


It’s been a good 40 years since he was diagnosed!!


Some of his notable achievements in the scientific field

-    From 1979- 2009, he has held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. This is a position held by Isaac Newton.

-    He has authored several popular books and TV shows, to make the subject accessible to the layman- A Brief History of time, The Universe in a Nutshell, Black Holes and Baby Universes, Into the Universe etc. 

-    He has won numerous distinctions and awards all across the world. 


In his personal life, his first wife divorced him due to the pressures of his care. He then married his nurse but they too divorced a few years later. He has children and grandchildren. 


His condition has affected his physical ability unevenly. Till around 1974, he could take care of himself, after which he needed help from a live in graduate research student. From 1980 he had a system of nurses. In 1985 he had to undergo a tracheotomy operation, after catching pneumonia at the CERN facility in Switzerland. He has needed 24 hr nursing care since, which has been funded by grants.


Even prior to the operation his voice had started slurring. In many of his public speeches prior to 1985, his graduate assistants were interpreting for him. 


But after his operation, he lost his voice completely. He had to find a way to communicate. Walt Woltosz offered him a software program called the Equalizer. Words could be selected from menus on screen by pressing a switch. And a sentence was slowly built up. He typed at approximately 4 words a minute this way. 


David Mason of Cambridge Adaptive Communication adapted the system to his wheelchair and used the 1980s telephone answering system to convert text to speech. The voice was robotic, with an American accent, but it’s the voice, that Stephen Hawking identifies with, and still uses.  


In his words: "A cursor moves across the upper part of the screen. I can stop it by pressing a switch in my hand. This switch is my only interface with the computer. In this way I can select words, which are printed on the lower part of the screen. When I have built up a sentence, I can send it to a speech synthesizer. 

I can write equations in words, and the program translates them into symbols. 

I can also give lectures. I write the lecture beforehand, and save it on disk. I can then send it to the speech synthesizer, a sentence at a time.
 

   

On TV shows, his voice output appears to be smooth and fluent only because it has been pre-prepared. At live conferences, it can take him up to 7 minutes to answer a question. 


Hawking lost the fine motor control of his hand as well and could no longer press the switch. Again the software had to be adapted. A small infrared sensor was attached to his glasses. The sensor detects intentional cheek twitches and triggers the switch. 


Using this he selects words, one letter at a time and slowly builds it into a sentence. 


Just imagine it - This is the system he has used to write his books, TV shows, give speeches, attend conferences and do his scientific work. 


This computer system also allows him access to remote controlling things like music, TV, lights, voice over IP, and opening doors in his house to allow him more independence.


His computer system has to be pretty much be replaced every year and he is fortunate to have the support of tech companies like Intel who are willing to invest in helping him. It has also helped that the onset of his illness came about slowly so he had time to establish his brilliance and intellect instead of trying to prove his cognitive abilities in addition to the struggles to communicate. 


Stephen Hawking essentially went beyond the bodily human limitations and reached out into the infinity of space. He even went on a space flight recently and experienced weightlessness. What a relief that must have been – not to be weighed down by the physical body. 


What if Stephen Hawking had been born 40 years earlier, when such technology was not available?  His mind would be lost to the world - what an incredible loss that would have been. Technology really has been a blessing in disguise for him and many who have no other avenue of communication.


His life was and is still a challenge. Yet he continues to face it and has overcome it in many areas. 


Efforts are being made to develop systems that will help him communicate should his face become paralyzed as well. Perhaps one of us will be in this field where we will develop new and affordable technologies that will benefit many people all over the world. 


Does not Swami keep telling us that we need not be trapped in the illusion of the insignificant physical body? Seems to me that Stephen Hawking has kind of done that.  


I like the answer Stephen Hawking gave on his site: “The human race is so puny compared to the universe that being disabled is not of much cosmic significance.” 



Lessons learnt. 


Stephen Hawking’s life has been a great source of inspiration to me.  Especially the fact that he’s done most of his work at the rate of 4 words per minute. That is the epitome of perseverance and dedication. 


I’m sure there is some element of frustration too – I can relate – it’s faster to talk that to type out a thought letter by letter, word by word, sentence by sentence.  A mind like his must be churning out thoughts faster than the physical movement of his cheek muscle. 


Life is going to be challenging whether or not your physical body imposes limitations. But you can still move beyond and make it less of a limitation. And you have to move others with you and take all to greater heights of human consciousness.


When challenges come your way, hold fast onto Swami’s hand and walk with Him. 



Sources: 


Official website of Prof Stephen Hawking. 

http://www.hawking.org.uk


Saenz, Aaron “How does Stephen Hawking Talk” (5/3/10)

http://singularityhub.com/2010/05/03/how-does-stephen-hawking-talk-video/

Volunteerism

Volunteerism


Why do people volunteer? Is it because it brings about a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction – that someone has benefited from their act of service?   It is because it has enriched their lives? For some, it is a way of life and for others it may bring some form of recognition and help in their career or life.  There are many intrinsic and extrinsic benefits to volunteering. Why then are more people not volunteering?


Many people may have the intrinsic desire to volunteer but don't quite know how to start or what to do. How does one go about this process? Do they have the time to do it? Is it a lot of work? Would they have to travel great distances?  Then there are factors such as whether it will be in line with their personal beliefs. There may even be skepticism on whether the needs of the target population (the recipients of the volunteerism) been identified properly. Volunteerism should also be done in a way, that the target population does not feel beholden or under some sort of obligation.


Therefore for volunteer participation to increase, there needs to be dissemination of information that answer some, if not all these questions. These questions need to be answered in layman's terms, so it is not just the “educated” who can understand it. In today's world, there are many ways to disseminate this information – through the media, social networking sites, the Internet etc. And there is actually a lot of information available on volunteer activities online that one can take part in. 


However the overriding factor that limits volunteering, is the lack of concrete examples to follow in one’s own local community. Volunteering is an abstract concept for many. One sees examples on TV of people in places like Africa handing out supplies. Such scenarios make volunteerism seem impossible for the common person. Many don't realize that volunteering can start in one’s own community.  All is takes is but one local example for others to follow. 


An example of a program that can greatly benefit by increased volunteer participation is the Special Olympics. Most associate it with the Para Olympics held every four years. It’s a very abstract event for most.  But Special Olympics in fact offers free sports training camps throughout the year in most areas, for all ages. Each training period, which runs for around 3 months, covers a specific sport. This way they can offer access to many different sports. Some of these are basketball, baseball, bowling, running, bocce etc. It also serves as a supportive environment and opportunities for the differently-abled to socialize and make friends. These camps are run in most part by volunteers. It stands to follow that the number of volunteers will determine the number and frequency of camps and the variety of sports that can be offered. 


This is actually a wonderful volunteer opportunity for high-schoolers and college goers, especially those who are sports inclined.  In essence, a program designed to encourage volunteer participation in this would involve for instance, presentations at local high schools. These would cover the issues discussed earlier.


  • Information about the hows, whats and whys of the program 
  • Tangible benefits (increased physical ability, access to sport programs) and intangible benefits (socialization, self-confidence) to the differently-abled.
  • The specific tasks involved during the course of volunteering, including training for the volunteers.  
  • Skills sets that high schoolers as volunteers, can bring to the program eg: fresh ideas, energy
  • Time commitment (once a week for 3-4 months of a year is a short enough time commitment for most students)
  • Distances involved for volunteers (usually within the same county or area)
  • Tangible benefits to volunteers (volunteer credit hours, looks good on college apps and on resumes) Intangible benefits to volunteers. Existing volunteers can talk about what they felt about doing this activity. If there are existing high school volunteers, they too can talk about their experiences; thus lead by example. 
  • The benefit for the school administrators is that such opportunities offer positive influences and experiences for their students.  


The youth of our country is primed to take part in volunteerism. Incentives such as volunteer credit hours in high school help instill such values in young adolescent minds. There is even presidential recognition for outstanding volunteerism by high school students. These impressions will carry over in their adult lives.  If one high-school student participates in a volunteer activity, and talks or texts about it to his friends, his friends will follow and then their friends etc. That is human mentality. 


Volunteering in effect is a win-win scenario for humans as a race. Its spread will greatly increase positive thinking and increase our level of consciousness, which in turn will reduce the negatives of human thought and behaviors such as crime and violence.