I’ve been thinking lately. Dangerous habit, I know.<\/p>\n
Altruism:<\/B> the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others<\/I><\/p>\n
I am aware that you know the definition of altruism but I think the dictionary defines it far better than I ever could. It’s a good word.<\/p>\n
Recently I had the chance to help some friends move their parents (or in-laws, depending on to which half of the relationship one is referring) into a new house. I was promised a dinner if I helped with the move, but that wasn’t why I did it.<\/p>\n
In the tiny bit I’ve explored religions it seems that the vast majority of them revolve around one tenet: the golden rule. The more I act within the bounds of “do unto others that which you would have done unto you” the happier I find myself. This isn’t me preaching to you, merely acknowledging my realization. It’s been a long time growing and it’s something with which I still struggle but for the most part I’m able to maintain this view.<\/p>\n
I remember many years ago reading part of one of Alison’s books regarding random acts of kindness. Some of it seemed trite and saccharine but many of the suggestions rang true. I believe that book was my first introduction to the golden rule being applied in more than a passing fashion. It was an awakening for me to realize that someone out there was intentionally doing nice things for strangers and not just applying the golden rule to life’s tougher decisions.<\/p>\n
Helping those folks move gave me more satisfaction and uplift than I had gotten in a week. Every time I passed by, sweating and straining under the weight of a dresser, they would actively thank me for my help. Every time I was thanked I felt like a million bucks. It was no big deal on my part, I can sit here and say that I had nothing better to do and it gave me some exercise. But really? I did it because helping people makes me feel so good inside.<\/p>\n
Upon proofreading what I’ve written I can’t help but feel that this sounds rather self-serving or even egotistical. That’s not the point but instead just to write about and remember how good it feels to help others. By writing it I have to concentrate on it, and concentration helps cement it in my mind. The dinner was<\/I> good, but the emotional payoff was far better.<\/p>\n
————-<\/p>\n
In other news, to give you something to talk about in the comments, I offer the following observation: my hair is driving me crazy. I said I was going to try and grow it (and my beard) out so I could be a real Abraham Lincoln this Halloween. However, I’m in that terrible in-between stage where I can’t seem to make a look of which I approve.<\/p>\n
Do you, gentle readers, really think it’s that important to have the Lincoln hair? Or is the beard sufficient? Maybe I don’t even want to grow a beard! I can’t decide.<\/p>\n
What I can tell you, though, is that my hair is a royal pain and I’m thinking about cutting it short again. It’s longer than it’s been in ten years (at least) and I just can’t seem to deal with it.<\/p>\n
But! If I got through this stage I could actually grow it out some and … I don’t know. Do something interesting with it, I suppose.<\/p>\n
So what do you think? Those of you who have seen me lately – do you think I have a chance? Or shall I further descend into dorkdom with my disastrous coiffure? WHAT SHALL I DO?!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve been thinking lately. Dangerous habit, I know. Altruism: the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others I am aware that you know the definition of altruism but I think the dictionary defines it far better than I ever could. It’s a good word. Recently I had the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tidbit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kevinomara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kevinomara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kevinomara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kevinomara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kevinomara.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kevinomara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kevinomara.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kevinomara.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kevinomara.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}