Quote:
Originally Posted by pachyderm
More musings from me. Musings only, because I really don't know for sure. I think there probably are some people who develop "mean streaks" very early on. For example, a child who starts to torture and kill insects, and seems to enjoy it. This might be in spite of the fact that no mistreatment of the person is evident. I think, unless calm and intelligent interventions are made with such people early, that small beginnings may develop into large end results, ones that we really do not want to see happen. It is no favor either to society or to the person themselves to let that happen. It requires intelligent attention to a person's development to manage that sort of thing.
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pachy, i think it's great that you are asking these hard questions and want to do something to help improve people's lives. while i think there are many professionals who probably have the most influence to make larger scale societal changes i do think we all have something to contribute. you mentioned on another thread how you wonder where all the compassionate people are in real life and that you are quite isolated. i meant to respond to your other thread to tell you how some of the nicest, most compassionate people i have met were while volunteering. at one time my sister did work with a regional food bank and asked me to volunteer at some of their fundraising events. honestly, the folks who worked at the food bank were the coolest, nicest people you could ever meet. and i did such tough work like hand out script and other ridiculously easy things at great events like food festivals where all the tops chefs prepared food that i also got to sample once my "work" was done. those are obviously really small contributions but they were much appreciated none-the-less to raise money for the food bank.
i think if you take your interests in wanting to help people, your desire to be around kinder folks, and your need for more human interaction then i think if you find something you are passionate about and volunteer you could really make a difference in others' lives and also really benefit from it yourself. there are so many things you could do: volunteer at a local foster home, or a local mental health clinic, teach disadvantaged kids to read thru your public library, etc. etc. of course this is all permitting you are physically able but if not there is plenty you could do online too. look how lynn p. helps out answering questions here on PC. talking about issues is necessary and good but i think it's even more important to get out there and do something to contribute. i say this to myself as much as to you as i know the tendency to just get stuck in my head. i hear a real passion in you to make a difference and i say go for it and volunteer in an area you are passionate about.
