​by Melissa Varnavas

I’ve often said that when you ask for volunteers from a group of people, everyone takes a step back leaving only those not quick enough standing in place to be called on to take action.

I haven’t volunteered for much in my life. When I have volunteered, it was generally because a friend or colleague knew my talents and proclivities enough to encourage me to do so. That’s how I started writing poetry after undergraduate school. A colleague asked me to join her at a meeting, then asked me to volunteer to be the group secretary, then vice president. Eventually, I earned my master’s degree in writing, taught some classes, and had several pieces published.

The point, of course, is that you never know where that little bit of encouragement might take you, where that first step forward instead of back, might bring you personally and professionally.