Charity & volunteer work

[Bryson]

I'd like to hear your opinions on charity and/or volunteer work.
Are any of you doing those?
I have mixed opinions on that.
Sometimes i think every mortal should be responsible for their destinies and that I should let natural selection follow its path.
Sometimes i think i am an asshole for rationalizing my lack of concern for what is usually considered a noble cause.

Toughts? Trolls?

 

[Anthile]

Natural selection favours charity. Volunteer work is something else entirely and very difficult to estimate. On the one hand, you might really help with it but on the other hand you might push a professional out of business who does it a lot better than you. There is a similar debatte regarding Open Source software. There simply is no easy answer that's going to satisfy everyone.

 

[Bryson]

Natural selection favours charity.

Care to elaborate?
Your input on volunteer work was much appreciated, thanks

 

[Cavallier]

I've looked into volunteering with the Peace Corps a couple of times but I have to admit it didn't have much to do with any desire to be charitable or help humanity. I do want to help educate people on combating/avoiding AIDS and HIV as well a educate youth so they might have a better future than their current one but that's sort of the icing on the cake for me. Mostly I just wanted to see a part of the world that isn't on brochures and 27 months of devotion to something outside of myself as well as separation from everyone and everything I know seems like a really good way to get some personal growth.

One of the things they ask you when you consider joining is "What are you running away from?". Seems wise.

 

[Iuanes]

First of all, we left natural selection in the dust long ago. Likely, your ass wouldn't be here if it still operated like in the good old days. And yeah, humans rose to dominance via intelligence mixed with altruism (within a tribe) and cooperation.

I volunteered as a cyclist for meals on wheels, giving food to old people and such. I mostly did it for myself because I wanted to conquer winter and I was pretty much doing nothing else. Oh, yeah, and exposure to old people in tough situations and good situations will give you perspective.

I don't really ever think I'm doing awesome stuff or that I am a charitable person, but i know at least I'm not doing something bad, and the people who coordinated everything seemed to be thankful for my help.

So yeah, just think of charity as selfish. Likely, if you start doing something you'll want to do it again anyway. Every time people say something like 'your a selfish asshole' or 'what did you ever do for society' or something like that, its beautiful when you have even the smallest, truest thing to answer back at them, because likely, its more than they've ever done. It's lets you feel ok about being a dick about other stuff, even though they're totally unrelated.

 

[digital angel]

I'm volunteering. It's a good way to maintain and improve skills. It's also a good way to network.

 

[Solitaire U.]

'Feed the Children' is 'Feed the Interests of The People Who Surround Themselves With Hungry Children'.

Peace Corp is 'Paving The Way Through Foreign Lands For Political Influence and Socio-Cultural Assimilation'.

Big Brothers/Sisters and all similar programs alleging to serve domestic children in need is 'Forsaken Child, Here's A Benevolent Stranger Who Volunteered To Be Your Influential Role Model, But Hasn't Been Ordained And So Probably Won't Molest You.'.

True charity is giving or helping unconditionally without claiming recognition. Organize, license, and otherwise taint it with overhead and goals and it becomes a business with running costs and profit margins at the least or a whore of bureaucracy at worst. The idea that charity requires federal or official endorsement to be legitimate is indicative of a culture that is trying to justify why it's society's individuals refuse to help each other, but the real needy have already fallen through the cracks of legitimacy.

 

[Cavallier]

Yeah, I think a lot of people are charitable as a way of getting recognized for being awesome or whatever. The deeply self-centered seem to flock to charity programs.

Yet, I think a lot of people who want to help others, be charitable, or volunteer for actual charitable reasons don't know where to start. They don't know where to go. So they volunteer with one of the giant volunteer networks until they get the experience they need to do something a little closer to the people who really need help.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

'Feed the Children' is 'Feed the Interests of The People Who Surround Themselves With Hungry Children'.

Peace Corp is 'Paving The Way Through Foreign Lands For Political Influence and Socio-Cultural Assimilation'.

Big Brothers/Sisters and all similar programs alleging to serve domestic children in need is 'Forsaken Child, Here's A Benevolent Stranger Who Volunteered To Be Your Influential Role Model, But Hasn't Been Ordained And So Probably Won't Molest You.'.

Damn, that's what you call a demotivator.

True charity is giving or helping unconditionally without claiming recognition. Organize, license, and otherwise taint it with overhead and goals and it becomes a business with running costs and profit margins at the least or a whore of bureaucracy at worst. The idea that charity requires federal or official endorsement to be legitimate is indicative of a culture that is trying to justify why it's society's individuals refuse to help each other, but the real needy have already fallen through the cracks of legitimacy.

So true man, I think it's ridiculous that we have all these corporations and charities and everything all around the world, but we can't get these same people to help others right in our backyards.