That's not charity

Motives. We all have them. We do things for other people for ourselves or do things for ourselves for other people. We try and calm down because someone we like said we were too crazy and we want to impress them. We turn everything in on time so that our teachers will like who we are as a student. We smile so someone will take a picture, joke around so people will think we're cool, talk so that people will listen to us. Every decision we make is motivated by, well, a motive.

I am not going to say that this is a bad thing. We need to have a reason to do things because it is a lot easier to just do nothing. What I am going I say is that, in situations when your motives are not pure, it IS better to just do nothing. If you are helping others for your own benefit, you are skipping over the "helping others" part and really just "helping yourself". That is selfish. That is wrong. That makes me sick to my stomach. Selfish motives are the reason people have so much doubt in the human race.

The person who goes to a food pantry to feed the hungry, on the outside, appears to be doing a great thing. But the minute he whips out the volunteer form for the club he is only in to stack on his resume and asks to have it signed by the adult in charge, he appears greedy and detached.

So, in short, before we do things, we should ask why we are doing them. Because if the reason isn't honestly to better the people around us and the world we live in, than it is probably not worth doing.

Furthermore, next time someone does anything for you, I challenge you to check their motives. Although they may be completely genuine, it is also likely that they are kissing up to you or someone who is watching. You really do not know someone until you know exactly what is motivating each and every decision he makes. That is, in my opinion, the best judgement of character-- not what someone does, but why they do it.

And, readers, of all people, I know I am guilty of what I just accused. We all are. But I am trying to work on only doing good things for good reasons and encourage you to do the same.



And no. "I need the points for NHS" is not a good reason.