Professor Johnson brought up in class that as human beings, it is in our nature to be altruistic and want to do things for others. He talked about how, since we are social creatures, we like helping others to fulfill their needs. I agree wholeheartedly with this.
The thing is, there are all kinds of self-less acts happening every day. Some are big, such as giving someone in need a place to stay when they’re down on their luck. Some are small, like helping someone pick up papers that they dropped. Some are recognized and praised, like when celebrities give money to charities. Some slip by unnoticed, such as a person holding a door for a long stream of people. All these have one thing in common: they are regarded as good deeds and lead us to believe those doing them are good people.
What about this? A teenager gets arrested for a misdemeanor and—when the case is presented to the judge—is assigned community service. He begins volunteering in a nursing home as a result. Obviously, his work there is not of an altruistic nature since it is not a selfless act; he is serving himself in working off his community service. We would not regard the guy as a “good person” in this given situation, even though we would award that status to someone who was there voluntarily.
My question is, Although the teenager’s volunteer work is not altruistic in nature and one would not consider him a good person, is the actual work that he is doing at the nursing home any less of a good deed?
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