Are You an Altruist?

Well,in 1851, French philosopher and anarchist August Comte coined the word "altruism" to describe the action of self sacrifice for the benefit and well being of others. The instinct of benevolence used to be common in the human condition but it seems we have lost touch with which is ultimately important in life. It would be wonderful to live in a world where everybody was happy to see others strive, succeed and live in peace. Many of us do but there seem to be a high percentage of people are either too distracted, ignorant or money driven to give a shit.

Most people slug it out each day of their lives trying to get ahead, at the end of the day there's no time to help anybody else. Some sit comfortably numb watching brain rotting material on the boob tube, consumed by ads for commercial goods and unconsciously spending to acquire things while lining the pockets of the Head Honchos of multi-million dollar corporations. I wish we all could live in a better world where Presidents, V.P.s, chairman, members of parliament, C.E.O. s have altruist attitudes and would do what was best for the good of all humanity. The global community would profit as a whole at a much higher value then any total of dollars. Instead we've got a global economy that promotes the exploitation of others by taking advantage of weaker human rights policies, weaker currencies, slack environmental regulations and dirt cheap labor. Bastards!

The problem may be that we live in a society that is based on laws that only maintain a certain standard of life as we are conditioned to obey. If we volunteered to a good set of morals and values instead of settling for law then we might be on our way to the next step of social evolution. Like most things this won't happen over night but we could all do something to make the place we live in a little better. "Give a shit".

Peace and bring the troops home.