By: Larissa D.
In this day and age, it seems that the general response to someone’s plea for help has become, “What’s in it for me?” Unfortunately, this has become a common question, perhaps even a “natural” inquiry. All too often, the human race is most concerned with its own desires and cannot be bothered with the needs of a neighbor. Instead, before offering help, we consider how the action will benefit us, and sadly, when it becomes obvious that there is no benefit for us, we often choose not to offer assistance. Whether we know it or not, we have developed into a society of selfish beings. Even those who appear to help “out of the goodness of their hearts” may not be as wholesome as they seem. It could almost be argued that there are no true selfless acts, because while no monetary profit is made, the giver earns a different and sometimes more valuable form of currency: recognition and praise.
Nowadays, everything is uploaded to social media the instant that it happens. When it comes to “selfless acts” or “random acts of kindness,” there is no exception. I have come across several posts on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that detail the person’s acts of service. I have seen photos of people wearing aprons and holding ladles with a caption that reads, “Helped out at a soup kitchen today,” wall posts that detail the hours spent photographing “those without a voice” for an animal shelter’s webpage, and even blog entries about a mission to complete 40 “random acts of kindness” in one day in celebration of the author’s 40th birthday. What is the significance of these posts? They are huge bulletin boards to the online world that shout, “Look at me! I went and helped someone today, isn’t that great? I gave up my time to complete a task for no payment, isn’t it wonderful?” And by all means, it is wonderful to help others. Please do not get me wrong, I definitely support those who make the effort to improve the lives of their fellow men, and there is nothing wrong with promoting a worthy cause. However, when the focus is solely upon being recognized for their actions and receiving praise, such as “likes” and comments about how “kind” and “thoughtful” the poster is, rather than on helping those in need, the action is no longer selfless.
Even upon introspection, I have found that some of the “selfless acts” that I have performed are not without benefit for myself. For example, every time that I drop off donations at Goodwill, I can claim it on my taxes, including the cost of the gas used to drive to and from the donation center in addition to the value of the items I left behind. I can also list the volunteer experience I gained while performing blood pressure checks at a free community health event on my résumé in hopes of setting myself apart from other job applicants. While I would have performed the same acts without the added incentives, I would be lying if I said that I did not enjoy my benefits. Honestly, in today’s competitive job market, who would not want to take the time to “spice up” their résumé in the hopes that an employer will take notice? I doubt that some of my classmates who are fresh out of high school will understand the point that I am trying to make here, but once they are out in the world with their degrees in hand waiting in line with one hundred other equally qualified candidates for an interview with a potential employer after receiving five rejections from other companies, it will make sense to them.
Now that I have given my thoroughly depressing take on acts of service in the world today, I will say this: there are still those out there who perform truly selfless acts of kindness for their fellow men. Last month Eyewitness News on WCHS/WVAH reported on two different children in West Virginia that have collected toys to donate to children who are sick or in need. Both of these remarkable youngsters asked their family members and friends to purchase the toys in lieu of presents for their own birthdays. That request is what sets them apart from others: even at their young age, they understand that it truly is better to give than to receive, and they are willing to think of others before thinking of themselves. Hearing their stories has given me hope for the human race. If every single person on the planet would do just one truly selfless act just once in their lifetime, it would mean that an estimated 7 billion life-touching moments would take place, which is 100 times more than the number of people served by McDonald’s every day. The acts don’t have to be huge or gain attention from news and social media. They can be as simple as purchasing a hot meal for someone who would otherwise go hungry or helping another customer in a snowy parking lot unload her groceries so that she can put her children in their warm car seats. While they don’t seem like much, those acts of kindness can mean the world to the person in need.
It is my sincere hope that I can raise my children to be thoughtful and caring individuals free from concerns about praise or compensation. I want them to help others because they understand that not everyone in the world is lucky enough to have food to eat or a warm place to sleep. I want them to be generous because they understand that the feeling they will get by bringing joy to another individual is better than anything money can buy. And I want to lead them by example. Although I noted earlier that I have performed acts of service that have benefited me in my quest for employment and when paying my taxes, it is those acts that I have not self-promoted that have brought me the greatest benefit of all: seeing the smile on the face of someone I have helped. I have lifted the heavy case of water out of an elderly woman’s grocery basket at the checkout line and held the door open for the man with his hands full at the post office, and all the while, I have let my children watch me in the hopes that one day, they will want to emulate me. Last December, every week during our shopping trip to Kroger I had my children help me pick out ornaments that had the names of families in need on the Salvation Army tree to take to the cashier so that we could donate a $25 grocery card to them. As they grow older, we will spend time together picking out items to take to a Toys-for-Tots drop-off center, collecting cans of food to take to the food bank down the street, and bringing bags of dog food and cleaning supplies to the local animal shelter, and we will not be snapping “selfies” to post to Facebook while we do it. Instead, my hope is that we will be looking at the smiles on the faces of those we help and reveling in that warm and fuzzy feeling that we get from knowing that we made a difference in someone’s life, no matter how big or small.
No comments:
Post a Comment