Poll: Why do YOU do what is right?
- Thread starter Doitpow
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Actually, its quite possible.dagens24 said:
Strictly speaking, altruism is suicidal from an evolutionary standpoint. There will always be some BASTion of the community who is perfectly willing to take advantage of your willingness to be self-sacrificing. Fortunately for the nicer people of the world, human evolution has been arrested with modern medicines, law enforcement, etc etc etc.
The world at large, however, is still a very cruel place, and shit really does happen with alarming frequency. Yet, giving solace and shelter to others in their personal shit-storms, is not necessarily self-sacrificing if it costs you nothing. Why give anything at all? Acts of self-sacrifice could be explained away as 'paying it forward'; an odd social meme that suggests random acts of kindness on your part to repay kindnesses received. Yet I find that idea to be tenuous; its dangerously close to being an urban legend that may soon be entirely forgotten.
I know the 'Meaning of Life'. That is to say; I understand to my own satisfaction, what caused me to be here, why I am here, and what I am supposed to do with my life. Life is an accident brought on by raging hormones and genetic material. My consciousness is a side-effect of millions of years of evolution. My stream of consciousness is the product of my environment, my experience, and my education. My future path is to do whatever I damn well please (including lots and lots of video games).
I can't always make positive changes in the world. I have neither the resources, nor the time, nor the capabilities to fix more than a few small problems. The world is full of shit and stink and ugliness. I don't have to like it. I don't have to accept it. I don't have to be complacent about it. And every tiny little bit helps.
Edit: ...and somehow I keep getting screwed anyway.
Because otherwise I wouldn't be able to feel righteous fury against those who don't live up to my moral standards.
Mostly just because that's just the way I am, I find it very difficult to do or say things that I could hurt other people, i'll admit though that maybe a bit of it is because people tend to treat me better if I treat them as such.
Tough if someone is a dick to me im quite likely to be as much of a dick back.
Tough if someone is a dick to me im quite likely to be as much of a dick back.
Because it is right, and my calls me to do what is right, not for any sort of reward, not material or self image because that taints the intent and not for a heavenly one because there is nothing I can do to earn that since Christ has already done everything needed, but simply because we are called to live righteously. It is both a duty and a delight.
I very rarely do good things as opposed to acting entirely indifferent to almost any situation I come across. If called upon, or if there is an oppourtunity to help someone with something I am rather adept at, then I'll do it. If your going to do something of philanthropic nature then it should be simply to help others, that being it's own reward rather than for your own monetary gain or to appease your God(s) or whatever.
Altruism/ people will treat me that way. I have this useless little ideal that if we are all good to each other then the world would be far better off, so I may as well try myself, because it makes that little bit of difference to a greater good.
Don't know why I bother sometimes to be honest, it's hard to forget that people are assholes sometimes, sometimes for no better reason than no reason.
Don't know why I bother sometimes to be honest, it's hard to forget that people are assholes sometimes, sometimes for no better reason than no reason.
When doing the right thing to strangers, this normally extends to "Hey, I need a pencil/paper/help with this" at which point I figure, hell, why not. Helps that I have an annoying amount of empathy most of the time, pretty much making it impossible to be a jerk intentionally.
Among friends, it's the empathy thing. I rarely have a consideration for myself when thinking about what I should do, so it's mostly for the sake of them that I act. Best of intentions, but I can't be trusted to give good advice, so I'm mostly an open ear for them.
Among friends, it's the empathy thing. I rarely have a consideration for myself when thinking about what I should do, so it's mostly for the sake of them that I act. Best of intentions, but I can't be trusted to give good advice, so I'm mostly an open ear for them.
Mostly I do it as an example. I have a few people who look to me and I wouldn't feel right leading them astray
2 reasons: A life revolved around living at other's expense is unfulfilling,
2nd and most important reason: Basically, Karma. When you do the right thing, you are doing the right thing for society as a whole. Every way you positively impact somebody's life, you positively impact life in general, as a whole. Input to one person becomes input to an entire system, which you use. I like to think of it as kind of like earth conservationism. The reason you don't want to pollute the earth is because it's everybody's to use.
2nd and most important reason: Basically, Karma. When you do the right thing, you are doing the right thing for society as a whole. Every way you positively impact somebody's life, you positively impact life in general, as a whole. Input to one person becomes input to an entire system, which you use. I like to think of it as kind of like earth conservationism. The reason you don't want to pollute the earth is because it's everybody's to use.
I put "ego, self image," which for me is sort of half of it. I think it ultimately comes down to empathy. If I do something that makes someone feel sad/angry/frustrated/embarrassed/disappointed, or fail to do something that could have stopped them from feeling that way, then I'm acutely aware of the unpleasant feeling they're experiencing. Then I feel like an ass for making them feel that way (or not helping them not feel that way). I don't want to be an ass, or feel like an ass, or have other people think of me as an ass. So, I do my best to be nice.
Granted, being friendly comes naturally to me for the most part. The difficult part is not letting myself justify being nasty to people who are being nasty to me. It's so easy to say, "This person's being such a jerk to me, therefore she is a bad person, so it's okay to be a jerk to her," but the sad part is that she's probably thinking the same thing. I try very hard not to get trapped in that kind of cycle because I always feel like an ass after I cool off, but it's not easy.
Granted, being friendly comes naturally to me for the most part. The difficult part is not letting myself justify being nasty to people who are being nasty to me. It's so easy to say, "This person's being such a jerk to me, therefore she is a bad person, so it's okay to be a jerk to her," but the sad part is that she's probably thinking the same thing. I try very hard not to get trapped in that kind of cycle because I always feel like an ass after I cool off, but it's not easy.
Because I fundamentally believe that doing the right thing.. is the right thing to do. Which is a bit tautological now I read it back but essentially what I mean is I guess that I like to think about myself as the sort of person who does the right thing... plus I believe in things like justice, honour, and integrity... not to mention politeness and kindness.
