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One of my ministers did a sermon that really opened my eyes. God doesn't need you to wait to do some big thing. He wants you to do the little things every day.
Maybe by just a smile in the grocery store, you could save someone's life who was severely depressed. Even just being nice and making someone's day may lead them to do that to others, who do that to others in a vast multiplier effect. At work, your encouragement could get someone to believe in themselves and make a better life for themselves and their family.
The movie, "Its a Wonderful Life," uses this theme. Jimmy Stewart's character didn't think he amounted to anything, but all the little things he did made a world of difference.
This is kind of what I was thinking too. Plenty of people think if they can’t solve world hunger, then they are unable to affect others. But, just like on a plane when you are instructed to put the oxygen mask on yourself first, before helping others, it’s best to just look around you to see where you can make a difference.
Sometimes I have grandiose ideas that I must "do my best" to try to "do something useful for mankind"...
But then I start to wonder if that's just a naive vanity, and if in fact no single individual among billions of people can do anything "useful for mankind"... And if it's not better to just care about my individual happiness and forget about those grandiose ideas...
Why does it have to be grandiose? Why do you think it's about vanity? Could it be that everyone can do something, even those little things that apparently some people think means nothing, but means the world to someone else. Could it be that those who seek to 'make the world a better place' want to do it because they want everyone to be happy?
Here was my grandiose idea when I was 5 years old:
Meet every single person on the earth and tell them a joke. Then, the whole world would be laughing and we would all be happy.
Here was my idea once I got old enough to realize that there was no way for me to meet every single person on the earth:
I can't meet everyone and tell them a joke, but I can make a difference in the life of every single person I meet. It doesn't have to be big, it just has to be something, and could be as little as paying attention to them. It could be just as little as hearing them out. It could be just as little as telling them that they look great in that color. It could be just as little as telling them how much you appreciate them. It could be just as little as joking around with them (what I call 'flirting' - and in real life, I flirt with everyone, even the grumpy ones - male, female, young, old, I don't care. I will 'play' with them because I want to make them laugh).
It's not FOR me, it's because happiness is a good thing for everyone.
Imagine if all 7 something billion people on this planet did one nice thing for someone every day.
Do you think that we might have a different world right now?
I do.
You can call that 'naive' all you want, but I don't think it is. I think it's naive to believe that you can't make a difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bu2
One of my ministers did a sermon that really opened my eyes. God doesn't need you to wait to do some big thing. He wants you to do the little things every day.
Maybe by just a smile in the grocery store, you could save someone's life who was severely depressed. Even just being nice and making someone's day may lead them to do that to others, who do that to others in a vast multiplier effect. At work, your encouragement could get someone to believe in themselves and make a better life for themselves and their family.
The movie, "Its a Wonderful Life," uses this theme. Jimmy Stewart's character didn't think he amounted to anything, but all the little things he did made a world of difference.
Before grandiose talk of saving the world... people might try not emergency parking in front of Kohls for 20 minutes and blocking a lane when there's literally 5 empty parking spaces within 30 feet...
Why does it have to be grandiose? Why do you think it's about vanity? Could it be that everyone can do something, even those little things that apparently some people think means nothing, but means the world to someone else. Could it be that those who seek to 'make the world a better place' want to do it because they want everyone to be happy?
Here was my grandiose idea when I was 5 years old:
Meet every single person on the earth and tell them a joke. Then, the whole world would be laughing and we would all be happy.
Here was my idea once I got old enough to realize that there was no way for me to meet every single person on the earth:
I can't meet everyone and tell them a joke, but I can make a difference in the life of every single person I meet. It doesn't have to be big, it just has to be something, and could be as little as paying attention to them. It could be just as little as hearing them out. It could be just as little as telling them that they look great in that color. It could be just as little as telling them how much you appreciate them. It could be just as little as joking around with them (what I call 'flirting' - and in real life, I flirt with everyone, even the grumpy ones - male, female, young, old, I don't care. I will 'play' with them because I want to make them laugh).
It's not FOR me, it's because happiness is a good thing for everyone.
Imagine if all 7 something billion people on this planet did one nice thing for someone every day.
Do you think that we might have a different world right now?
I do.
You can call that 'naive' all you want, but I don't think it is. I think it's naive to believe that you can't make a difference.
The whole premise is overblown. We lead worthy lives by just being ourselves. Ordinary people trying to do the right thing. Doing no harm to others, loving our friends and families. You don’t have to win the Nobel Prize or any other similar honor.
It is “naive vanity” to give a panhandler money. The money will go towards his addiction, but you will get to feel great about yourself for being so “compassionate.“
It is “naive vanity” to give a panhandler money. The money will go towards his addiction, but you will get to feel great about yourself for being so “compassionate.“
Naïveté does not negate their compassion nor does it have anything to do with vanity.
Those were OPs words, not mine. My point is that do-gooders do it to make themselves feel virtuous, not to really help the individual.
Hence my point re: compassion. A compassionate/kind person who feels empathy genuinely wants to help; they recognize horrific things can happen to anyone i.e. mental illness, for example.
That said, why judge anyone who is (at least) trying to ‘do good’?
Last edited by CorporateCowboy; 10-16-2022 at 04:11 PM..
Reason: typo
Hence my point re: compassion. A compassionate/kind person who feels empathy genuinely wants to help; they recognize horrific things can happen to anyone i.e. mental illness, for example.
That said, why judge anyone who is (at least) trying to ‘do good’?
I’m critical of the method, not the intention. It is best to give your money to something that has proven to actually do good, not to an individual just to make yourself feel better.
For example, the BLM movement was supposed to promote awareness of a perceived unfairness between police and black people. Yet, the organizers used their own people to line their own pockets.
Last edited by gentlearts; 10-16-2022 at 05:05 PM..
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