on volunteering and music

I haven't been preparing for my upcoming med school interview at Queen's this Saturday all that much. Amanda reminded me that it is "very very important" =P I know, somehow I don't feel stressed or nervous about it at all and this is probably from Him and the prayers from my beloved family and friends =)
One interview question that has been stuck in my head was "If you could pick 3 people to have dinner with, who would they be?"
You're supposed to be as multi-dimensional as possible to reach out to the 3 interviewers, and show your personal qualities.
I was stuck for awhile thinking of someone who was my role model as a musician, whom I'd loved to speak to and be honoured to learn from. I thought of Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma ... but I suddenly remembered Midori. She's probably a lot less well-known as a violinist but she has such an amazing personality (starting up music sharing programs, travelling to the less-fortunate places to bring and share music with the people there, having that social responsibility and volunteering being such a big part of who she is...) and her writing shows such genuineness. I've always wondered about how much of volunteering is truly altruistic, but I've been learning a lot throughout these years. For me, it sometimes really is just building up my resume for medical school application and I hate the hypocrisy of that. These past few times at the hospital, I've been mostly just washing toys because the Child Life Specialists haven't been able to keep up with the piles and PILES of toys, books, DVDs, craft stuff after patients have used them. It's a pretty brainless job which involves wiping/dunking the item in with ED wash, then repeating that process with rinse water and placing the item on the rack to air-dry (but somehow it gets tiring too). You really get a lot of time to reflect about things though since you're there in the housekeeping room by yourself. So I start thinking... am I even helping in any way just washing toys, am I here to wash toys just to keep my volunteering position on my resume? It is a little harder to find motivation when in a sense, it's a pretty much thankless job? But it is through these experiences that I learn to be humble. That it's not simply me wanting to do all these great things to help the patients... help others feel better. Realizing how very little and small "what I can do" and "my realm of possibility" of doing so are, as Midori puts it. And she goes on to say, "But little and small are not the same as nothing. Nothing cannot be multiplied intoanything, but little can be nurtured into something bigger. Coming to terms with the smallness of one’s attempted good deed is a humbling experience, which further motivates me to learn."
so yes, even if it's washing toys I'll do it with a humble heart to serve the patients and keep them safe from infections =)
I've always wanted to try bring in my violin to the hospital to play for them though... wonder whether that's allowed. I recently stumbled upon this on Theresa's (our pianist at Simply Church =D) webpage: "Music is a gift to be shared. It gives voice to one's soul, expressing joy or sorrow whether in private reflection or in the need to bring people together when words simply fail."
And whether it's music, sports, academics, these gifts and talents we've been blessed with, may He be glorified in all.