runlindsayrun

Current Events and Selfless Good Deeds

Here's something you may or may not know about me: I'm a news junkie. I wake up to CBC radio in the morning, timed so that I can hear the news headlines. Then I make my decision about whether or not it's worth getting out of bed that day. So far, I've always chosen to get up. But if one morning I happen to hear that all of Canada's been covered in radioactive powder or something, I don't want to bother getting dressed. After my shower, I turn on the TV in my room and watch CTV NewsNet while I'm getting ready. And then I listen to the radio on my way in to work, where I check news headlines on the internet. And then read the paper during my lunch break.

I haven't decided if all this knowledge has made me an optimist or a pessimist. Maybe neither - maybe it's just made me aware. Geoff commented the other day that he sees the worst of the worst while he's at work, and that if he formed his entire worldview based on that single experience, he'd believe the world was full of nothing but bad things. I'm sheltered from so much of that. If I formed my worldview based on what I experience in my day-to-day life, I'd think we're doing pretty well. I sometimes see selfishness and greed and the dark side of ambition. But nothing really classically or impressively 'evil.'

I've done my little volunteer projects to poor communities or Winnipeg's inner city, but how much do you really see when you're the outsider just stopping by for a visit? And how much can a twenty-five-year-old girl who works in advertising really offer? Maybe these little projects are less about helping people and more about making ourselves feel better for having contributed. And overall, that's still probably a good thing. At least we're 'helping,' however little impact that might actually have. (And is there really such a thing as an unselfish good deed anyway? Joey & Phoebe on 'Friends' say no.)

Anyway. That's what's floating around in my head this morning.

L

posted by Lindsay @ 12:56 PM