Or do we benefit from it, even in the slightest way?
2006-12-16 05:51:13 · 14 answers · asked by ξℓ Çђαηφσ 7 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Polls & Surveys
We benefit from it in a feel-good sort of "I am helping balance the scales of justice" sort of way.
Even someone who leaps on a grenade to save others knows he's leaping on it and the likely result.
I suppose there are those who perform kind acts so habitually they're second nature and no real volition is behing them: Kindness by reflex, as it were. Since they are motivated by reflex and not kindness, I suppose they don't count.
Are the acts selfless? When the sacrifice far outweighs the slight feel-good emotional buzz, I say it's close enough to selfless as makes no odds. Call it selflittle instead of selfless.
Nice question.
2006-12-16 05:56:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Any act, good or bad, has a motive. Altruism cannot be real unless the giver gets absolutely no sense of satisfaction from the act. Give to a charity to feel good? Give to a homeless person to remove a sense of guilt? We all benefit from acts of kindness but in no way can it be considered truly selfless.
2006-12-16 14:08:52 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nothing is selfless. There is an evolutionary tactic at work even in seemingly selfless acts, even if it's just for that "warm, fuzzy feeling" that reassures someone of his or her own kindness. Having children isn't selfless, either. It's the ultimate form of selfishness in a world packed with orphans to insist on continuing your own genes.
2006-12-16 19:30:46 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Its ok to benefit from a selfless act of kindness, as long as benefiting was not the reason we did the act!
=)
2006-12-16 18:57:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Years ago my husband and I went to the store. I and alot of other people were too busy shopping to notice others but my husband saw an old lady crying on a bench. He went over and asked her why. She said she came to shop but could not get the job done. My husband who can not read came back and forth with a shopping cart asking her what else she needed, went to the counter and rang it up, carried it to her car, and followed her home and put it all away for her.
My husband is a wonderful person who happens to suffer from major lung disease and Schizophrenia which so many people have said bad things about just because he can ramble at times about nothing and because his jaw moves alot.
He is ALWAYS like this and he never EVER expects any credit when he does these things. It all comes from his heart and I would not trade this man for anything or anyone upon this earth.
2006-12-16 13:58:46 · answer #5 · answered by The_answer_person 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The trick is not to get caught doing selfless acts of kindness or they don't count. Ya gotta be sneaky. I think it is true that your good acts will come back to you, but in ways you would never expect. Good question.
2006-12-16 13:53:58 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You just did one here.
Just by asking the question.
There have been many over the times of our planet. One that has started to become popular is called, "Pay it Forward."
People give someone help when they happen across them, in need. Like the one I recall where a guys car broke down and another guy walking his dogs, saw him and threw him his keys. Fantasy? Maybe...
2006-12-16 13:56:10 · answer #7 · answered by d4d9er 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you benefit from the good feeling it gives you .
2006-12-16 13:54:44 · answer #8 · answered by Yakuza 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, in a way. I mean, I rarely do them, but when I do, I feel good about myself so I benefit in that way.
I guess that is why we do them, because we know they are good things.
2006-12-16 13:53:31 · answer #9 · answered by Jax 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
yeah.
no matter what u do.
something will always come out of it.
not in like a selfish type way though.
it can still be selfless, but we still benefit.
do u understand?
2006-12-16 13:52:40 · answer #10 · answered by IDNTGIVASHT 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋