[no_circuit]

Some people may see the use of the word volunteering as virtue signaling, it depends on the audience. IMO, if you assist at the local blood bank during a donation drive after a disaster -- that's volunteering. If you are retired and/or rich and can afford to go do Antarctica to assist with research for three months as an essential role or not -- that's free labor.

A person living paycheck-to-paycheck may view the Antarctica opportunity as pompous, but environmental-club peers may view it as volunteering to save the planet and deserves a round of cheers with drinks in hand.

[brightlancer]

If I have a million dollars to donate to a charity, is not a donation nor an act of charity because most people don't have a million dollars to donate?

It's near certain that every person on HN is in the top 20% of intelligence in the world, and probably in the top 20% in their country. Are our actions and achievements less meaningful because we are lucky enough to be smart?

If someone has the ability to donate months of their life volunteering, I see no reason to diminish or demean their actions simply because I or other people couldn't do it.