Now that I have got you here, please read the article below. Don’t be pissed and look at the bigger picture 🙂
I remember a ‘Friends’ episode where Joey claimed that no act in this world can be a selfless one. Every pure act gives the individual something in return. It prodded me to think why selfishness is always considered in bad light. Why is it that some acts of philanthropy not considered the same as others? Bill Gates donates a million dollar and no one bats an eye, an anonymous guy does the same and he becomes an angel. Being engineers (no matter what quality), we are trained to look at output; so why this disparity.
I asked Aabis Arsiwala, the co-founder and Director of ‘The Help’ (NGO based in Manipal), if he’d mind a person working for a certificate in the organisation. His reply was- “Not really as long as you are working diligently and work as required by the NGO. In fact we offer certificates as incentives. People rarely know if they’d like the work initially so it gives them the initial push as well. It’s like you study because you want a degree. No one is Aamir Khan from 3 Idiots.”
Everyone likes to be noticed and everyone wants to get something out of everything. I was taking an interview for the college website, MTTN when one girl told me that she wrote, but had never shown her work to anyone as she wrote for herself. I told her what my mother had told me a few years back, “No one writes for himself, every writer eventually wants his work to be noticed and appreciated. Some prefer a close group of friends and others, an audience.” People love being the centre of attention. Going back to the ‘Friends’ logic, Mother Teresa derived happiness out of helping others and was thus a very selfish person. Same goes with AAP; I don’t mind a leader coming down in a LIMO if he’s doing great work.
The problem arises when such factors affect the act of welfare itself. The Congress, waiting for the media to arrive and notice the relief for landslide and flood victims to be sent, was shameful (Assuming the news was true). Politicians working like men with purpose only a few months before re-election and people recording a girl being molested while someone tries to save her, rather than helping him, are just ridiculously selfish, rather heinous acts.
The point being, one should look at the bigger picture of everything. Small things like motives, perks, attention and even path to an extent should not matter when it comes to philanthropy. I am not saying that one should ask for money for helping an old man cross the road, but yeah! One should not feel guilty for clicking a selfie and posting it on FB with a million dollars, before donating them!