This is an “old” blog (circa 2003)….an article I wrote for the Issaquah Alps Trails Club newsletter and never used!    But it makes perfect sense today, still:

In my job, I have a lot of contact with junior high and high school youth.  Several have interviewed me, with regard to my role as Trail Maintenance Coordinator for IATC, for their community and volunteer service projects.  Often the question has come up:  Why did you get involved in doing volunteer work?  My answer might be:  Am I?  In other words, I never decided to be a volunteer.  Rather, I followed my passion for Cougar Mountain and this is where it led.  The idea of volunteer work reminds me of something you do on principle, because it is a good or altruistic “idea” and I suppose that isn’t bad.  However, there are couple of features of volunteer work chosen on principle:  one is that it is kind of arbitrary;  in other words, there are a lot of different places I could contribute my efforts in an environmental cause.  Another is that is it is a little easier to put down when something else in life gets pressing.  But passion drives, often relentlessly, and it drives one in a particular direction.  For me, that is Cougar Mountain.