Premeditated Acts of Altruism

We do not live on this Earth alone. Everything we do affects the world around us. We cannot expect to take what we need all the time without giving something back. We all have the ability to serve others. In fact, serving others is what makes us human. In their book Animal Behavior: Readings from Scientific American, Thomas Eisner and Edward O. Wilson write:

A vertebrate society is little more than a loose confederation of families and individuals. Even when they exist as subordinate members of societies, vertebrates remain relatively selfish and aggressive. The single outstanding exception to this trend is man himself, who has retained the basic vertebrate traits, but has managed to balance them with coalitions, contracts, vastly improved communication, and long-range planning that includes premeditated acts of altruism.

Being of service to others doesn't mean that we have to give up everything we have or want to do for the benefit of others. It means that whatever we choose to do, we should include others in our vision. There are an infinite variety of ways you can give back to others. You can give money, you can give time, you can give praise and encouragement—anything that comes from your heart to someone else's.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift someone else.

—Booker T. Washington,
U.S. educator and social reformer