Here's My Theory

The Closest Thing to Altruism

When you do something nice for someone that doesn’t benefit you in any way, it’s generally regarded as altruistic. But are you really not benefiting at all? Doesn’t it make you look good when you donate to a charity or do some other apparently “selfless” act? Doesn’t it make you feel good that you did a nice thing? The truth is that nobody does anything unless it somehow benefits them self.

So what’s the closest thing to a selfless deed you can do? That’s debatable, but here’s what I do:

I like to anonymously do something to help someone else, and then tell absolutely no one I did it. For example, let’s say you pick something up for a friend that costs $50 and then tell them you got it for $40. They’ll think they’re paying you in full, but really be saving money. This way they won’t feel guilty, or debt to you. Also, for some people, they won’t feel insulted that you felt the need to financially help them.

Another example would be if you come home, and notice that something that someone else in your house owns is now broken. You could buy a new one to replace it before they even know it broke, and never tell them that you did.

Here’s one more, and then I would hope you’d have a handle on the idea. If someone at work forgot to do something, and they’re going to get in trouble if your boss finds out they left without doing it. You can do it for them, and never tell the boss or the person you work with that you were the one to do it.

All of these ways will still benefit you, because you’ll feel good about yourself for having done it. The difference is, they will not make you look any better to anyone else. I can’t think of a more altruistic deed than that.

To be poetic about it, I prefer to live my life as a breeze that touches as many lives as possible; even if they never know it was me all along. Of course by me writing all of this, I’ve completely gone against the whole point of it. But I’m not going to fight this paradox, take from it what you will.