“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” — Oscar Wilde
If you have been conscious for the last few weeks, you know about how the Book of Revelation is a nursery rhyme in comparison to what is happening around the world. A lot of people have been offering their thoughts and prayers via Facebook and Twitter to the victims of the latest wave of natural disasters. If the people in Puerto Rico had electricity they would probably love reading these posts.
Most (normal) people wouldn’t have a problem with this support through social media. I mean, who thinks that acknowledging a problem is bad?
My issue with these thoughts and prayers is that they are worthless. Thinking about something does nothing. If you have watched the “Thoughts and Prayers” episode in the new season of “BoJack Horseman,” then you know exactly what I am talking about. No change happens just because of an idea.
The tweeter probably does feel horrible about the tragedies. But the problem is that in the time he spent typing out the (usually too long) post, he could have been donating to a charity that is actually helping with the reconstruction.
But before I continue on why real action is necessary, I should probably address the elephant in the room: Why do we write these posts even if we know they’ll do nothing?
We write these posts for two reasons. First, because we are upset, and social media is a good place to vent. Second, because it’s an attempt to show our social media friends that we are “good people.” You are probably thinking, “WHAT! MY POSTS I SHARE WITH MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY ARE NOT BECAUSE I WANT TO SATISFY MY EGO! BAD COLUMNIST! SAD!”
If you think about it hard enough, you’ll realize that social media exists so that we can connect with other people, show off our life achievements and find comfort in a community. People are addicted to it for a reason: the likes, comments and attention they find online give them a great emotional boost.
If you have put my two previous points together — one, that we make these posts to show to others that we care and, two, that our self-image is the most important part of our sharing of these posts — you’ll come to the conclusion that true altruism doesn’t exist. In other words, we help others to bolster our ego.
While most people think this is a horrible notion, it really isn’t all that bad. I believe lying to yourself about your intentions is worse than admitting selfishness. If you donating your time and/or money to charity makes you feel good about yourself, then by all means do it. The more the better.
If you really want to boost your ego and show off to your friends, don’t write a long post about how much you care about the victims. Instead share a link to a charity and announce to your social media community how you donated and how they can too!
I will admit that we all can’t go to the affected countries and help out in-person. A lot of celebrities will probably end up going to these places, hammering a nail, taking a few pictures and leaving in a private jet that costs more than the country’s GDP. I’d love to see how many celebrities would go to the affected countries if no one could know they were there.
The best thing we can do is offer our money. And if we get an ego boost out of it, cool.
