Monday, June 2, 2008

On Altruism

I once knew a man who said that he did not believe that true altruism existed. He would often rail against the homeless, and stated that they did not deserve any help. So you could imagine my shock when he mentioned that he had donated $600 to a charity benefit for the homeless that was held by his place of employment. My disgust grew when he admitted that he truly did not care about the cause, but instead, did it for a look good. The worst part of it was that he had a wife and daughter who were sitting at home with no food in their larder. I will never understand this kind of false pretension! I, in fact, do believe in altruism, and practice it often. It is as simple as this: if something awful happened and you lost all you had, would you not want to be helped? The reason this nation is considered great is because we have a long standing tradition of generosity and charity. The growing egocentricism and self centeredness is what is destroying this nation from the inside out. So the next time you see a man lying on the sidewalk with matted hair and dirty clothes, instead of judging him as worthless, try to see him as someone's son, or someone's father. Try seeing him as your father.

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