What to do with one's life? To gain some meaning to my own life I spent the morning at the local SPCA shelter. My own volunteering career is fairly pathetic, and the last time I bothered to donate my time and skills was at High School, but what a rewarding experience. I felt a little egocentric knowing that I had split reasons for turning up at 8 am. I love animals, and it is a great cause, however, I was also desperate for a social occasion, a chance to meet local people, and a chance to play with kittens and walk dogs. Does this still make me a good person? I guess that depends on which ethical theory you stand by. Was I acting out of duty? If everyone volunteered would it make the world a better place, yes. In other words it was my duty to turn up, and I should think of my volunteering work in no other light. Or was I acting for the consequences? If so, the fact that all animals under my watch this morning now have fresh water, full bellies and clean houses, shows I produced good consequences. But the consequences of my action also include feeling good about myself - is this virtuous?
3 days ago
5 comments:
There is an old episode of Friends where Joey tells Phoebe that being the surrogate mother of her brother's triplets was a selfish act, as it made her feel good doing it. So Phoebe tries to find a truly self-less act, and ends up letting a bee sting her, only to find out later that that meant that the bee would die.
What is 'virtuous' anyway? It seems strange to me that we seem to think that virtuous acts and feeling good about oneself are mutually exclusive...
PS: Sorry for relating this back to Friends!!
PPS: Should have said in earlier comment that what you did was lovely. I'll bet the animals loved you for it.
Thanks Evealyn! It was really neat, I popped in again this morning (and spent a bit longer playing with the cats!) I should have done this a long time ago.
There will be 4-legged animals loving you unconditionally JUST because you turned up!
It's wonderful work you chose to do at the SPCA. And feeing good about yourself is just an added blessing. Now if you start erecting statues to yourself...we do will another problem.
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