Glimpsing the future

7/3/07

Do you ever feel a vague disquiet that you ought to be doing some sort of altruistic service for others but, because of various responsibilities already in hand, somehow don’t get around to it?

Thanks to the many advertisements that come my way via journals, emails and friends, I noticed a series of lectures, “Conversations – food for thought” to be held at the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts. Eva Cox was to address the audience about “Shopping for Happiness” on the first one I could attend. Eva has long since been a hero of mine so that clinched it. I learnt subsequently that she is on the Board of the SMSA. The last topic of this series was “Altruism – do we really only act out of self-interest?” and was to be addressed by Georgie Vestey [founder of Sydney Talks website] and Les McDonald, the current CEO of Meals on Wheels. I knew this talk would be particularly stimulating because of the vague disquiet already hinted at above.

Is altruism innate or the result of social enculturation? Or both? Les McDonald dismissed the question as unimportant. What matters is that altruism exists in us somehow. Georgie V., referring to British experience where the shortage of volunteers is acute mentioned that studies there reveal education programs promoting volunteerism were ineffective in changing attitudes. An audience member quipped that young people were naturally altruistic but “grew out of it” by adulthood.

Les pointed out that social cohesion is a fundamental of our contemporary infatuation with productivity and the market. Without that cohesion, the market fails. And yet that is where many rest their faith today, in the market economy. Work harder, earn more, buy more. But at the same time, the need for more people to become involved in giving themselves and their time for the good of all is becoming acute, given the increasing numbers of people of all ages living alone [by 2020 it is predicted that will be 50%] and in particular the burgeoning aging population.

Eva Cox pointed out that long-term volunteering for charities such as Meals on Wheels, though traditional, is not the attitude of people in today’s changed and changing world. Young people [i.e. under 45 or 50] live in a highly pressured world with many conflicting demands on their time. The idea of committing themselves for lengthy periods to any voluntary activity goes immediately into the too hard basket. And yet, when ad hoc disasters occur, many people do give generously of their time and assistance. How can this impulse to altruism be harnessed?

Les agreed that new approaches to the challenge of social need are required. Meals on Wheels was faced with this dilemma when it found its traditional “western” method of reaching out to Aboriginal communities with its meals program failed. They had to try something new. As a result, they set up a study into the stories of the Aboriginal communities they were aiming to assist to determine how they might better serve them. Since then, new programs based on the new understandings gained have been instituted with heartening results.

The meeting closed on a hopeful note as members began to see possibilities for positive change arising from government sponsored investigation into how ordinary people live, what they perceive as the most pressing matters needing social co-operation and how they thought they could contribute. Such an investigation need not cost much but has the potential of opening the way for ordinary people to give of themselves in ways that are feasible, significant for the maintenance of society and personally satisfying. To me, this is a welcome idea. If volunteering could be taken on when one has time and capacity rather than in terms of lengthy commitment, the prospect would look much more inviting.