Does helping others also help you?
After college, I fully believed I would save the environment, with all my good ideas, my commitment, my knowledge and energy. I really believed that all you had to do to explain what the reality was to people and they would go, “OMG I need to recycle!” or “Right, we will stop dumping fabric dyes into our oceans!”
I thought it would be that simple. The latter half of my 20s was characterized by learning that most people simply do not care. Much disillusionment. It was a very hard learning experience for me.
But helping the environment and helping animals DOES help me. It makes me feel happy. Helping people is nice but not my primary interest. I want to “speak for the trees.” I want to live lighter on the planet, reduce my carbon footprint, create a No Net Waste Goal, see less cruelty and suffering in this world.
When I donated my Seattle car and previous RV to a cause, it was to the Humane Society.
I get a nice glow whenever I think about that.
Do you give to a cause or help others in some way? Does doing so help you back?
Filed under All About Me, green living |5 Responses to “Does helping others also help you?”
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I love helping people. I love doing things for people that they didn’t even know existed. It does help me, because, yes I do get a sense of unity with a person. It feels good to care about other people. But, I hope I am not doing things for selfish reasons. I do them because it is important to help those who need it. Perhaps it’s partially selfish. But I feel, whatever it takes, it doesn’t matter. As long as you are helping in a positive manner.
I totally agree with everything you are saying. I think helping others can be quite selfish, but selfish in a good way. A glowing, positive way. Helping others should never hurt you: it should be about synergy!
There are many ways to be selfish and on the spectrum of things, helping others gets an A+ in my book. Being selfish at the expense of others….well, that is something much harder to live with.
Well, then I love being selfish
We should make a tee shirt. hehehe.
You are such a good person, D’vora.
Helping others is really part of what makes your life worth living! I’ve found the TED Talks on Youtube and they are fantastic. So if you have 20 minutes, you can listen to Tony Robbins - he gets to the idea that in order to truly live - to fulfill your life - giving back is THE thing to do. Anyway, pretty cool : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpc-t-Uwv1I
M