on Service, Voluntarism, Charity and all things Altruistic ...
Altruism , not simply a nice sounding word, but rather good choice in the English language. From the Latin "alteri" which means "others"; therefore, the meaning of the thought of the interest of others first as opposed to the interest of mine own (altruism vs egoism.) It is interesting to note that every culture has a call for it, and though everyone calls for a different action perhaps, the intent seems to be the same: for us to learn to put other's needs ahead of ours. I am not going to argue the philosophical questioning of whether or not we are capable of true altruism but I am going to place it rather in a spectrum, with perfect altruism in one end and perfect egoism in the other and explore some ideas. Service , another great word, yet a bit more tricky as it derives from the latin "servire" which comes from "servus" which means "slave". Does that means that when we serve others we are is if we were their slaves? Yes,