Philanthropy Milanthropy

Just got to Granada, which is a cute little village in Nicaragua. Today I met a cool group of people and had a pretty good conversation with them. One of the girls that I was talking to began to casually tell me about how she saw some kids earlier that were hungry so she bought a bunch of food and had a picnic with them. She was obviously proud of it and brought it up a couple of times in the conversation.

My initial reaction is skeptism about the actual benevolence of her actions. It really started to seem to me like the best thing about her doing this good deed was the ability to tell about it afterward. This may or may not be the case. But the question it really raises for me is if it matters.

One person donates millions of dollars to a charity because of the tax benefits. Another person doesn´t donate anything because they don´t feel compelled to. I want to say that what matters most is the outcome - and no matter how corrupt the motive, the person that donated money actually made a difference. I do think this is highly important, but not so sure how it makes me feel in the scheme of things.

Before the summer began, I contemplated doing a long vacation somewhere. What better way to do a vacation and really get to know a country, I thought to myself, than to volunteer at the same time? It seemed to be a wonderful idea to head to Somolia and feed children or to Guatamala to help the homeless.

My plans didn´t happen for other reasons, but in the midst of this thought process, I wasn´t comfortable with something and I´m not sure how justified this discomfort is. This dilimna questions of the motives of Abraham Lincoln, who could have fought for the abolishment of slavery because free blacks could benefit his private business operations. Or Nelson Mandela, who´s possible motive in the struggle against apartheid was not as selfless as the suspected elimination disenfranchisement to his fellow people, but due to the fact that his own ego was supressed.

Does it really matter that are motives, when uncovered on a deeper level, are selfish and discieving? Is it better to let a problem exist than improve it for reasons that we would be too embarrassed to admit?

I´m not sure. I would rather the motive and the philanthropy happen simultaneously. I would love even more to continue pretending that this is the case, as most people seem to do.