<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I am virtuous and worthy, for whom should I not maintain a proper concern?\u201d (Confucius).<\/p>\n
WE\u2019RE NOT FULLY HUMAN IF WE DON\u2019T RECOGNIZE OUR CONNECTION TO OTHER HUMAN BEINGS. There is a sense in which the human race can be thought of as a family, and family members have important reasons to treat one another unselfishly and with benevolence. For one thing, family members are attached to one another in such a way that whatever one does affects all the others. In the human family, we need to recognize that each of our own actions has some impact on our siblings. If nothing else, we have to share the same living space, the same habitat. To misuse the world which is our home or to take too much out of it, just for our own indulgence, is to be shamefully selfish. To fail to help the helpless is to withhold good things from the family of which we ourselves are a part. Connected as we are, how can we not be concerned about one another?<\/p>\n
\u201cAltruism\u201d means selflessness. It\u2019s an active concern for the welfare of others. When we choose to be altruistic, we\u2019re making a choice to be humane and helpful. \u201cA man of humanity is one who, in seeking to establish himself, finds a foothold for others and who, desiring attainment for himself, helps others to attain\u201d (Confucius).<\/p>\n
There is a danger, however, in saying that we \u201clove humanity.\u201d That kind of sentiment can be so vague and general that, for all practical purposes, it\u2019s useless. Dostoevsky said, \u201cIn abstract love of humanity one almost always only loves oneself.\u201d We\u2019d do better to love actual persons<\/em> \u2014 real ones, like those who live in the house next door or work in the office down the hall \u2014 rather than \u201chumanity.\u201d<\/p>\n If we\u2019re not as altruistic as we should be, we need to start growing in that virtue. Yet there\u2019s no denying that it\u2019s hard. It demands a great deal of us. Just because we don\u2019t think we\u2019re doing any harm to anybody, that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re doing the good that we should do. In the words of Roy Masters, \u201cLoving what is right is different from hating what is wrong and feeling right about it.\u201d And frankly, the more affluent we are, the more we need to be warned: altruism isn\u2019t a philosophy \u2014 it\u2019s a lifestyle that results in the positive blessing of other people.<\/p>\n \u201cTo hoard is worse than to steal\u201d (Jewish Proverb).<\/p>\n Gary Henry \u2013 WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com<\/p>\n