Altruism is a wonderful thing and if not for its presence, a lot of what good happens in the world might not happen at all, or at the very least might not happen as much.
Unfortunately, in such an indifferent and sometimes cruel world, any help we can get from any quarter making the lives of disadvantaged adults better is considered to be a good thing.
To give of yourself for the betterment of others, even if by doing so, you put yourself in some degree of personal disadvantage. That’s what altruism is.
It’s what lay behind the decision of most people to do volunteer work, sometimes even at their own personal expense.
To see a need, and to move forward with purpose and in a good-faith, attempting to address that need, and to make things better, or easier, for anyone struggling to meet those needs on their own.
But I’m going to put forth what some may consider to be a contentious argument.
Does your altruism have credibility if, in the pursuit of it, your actions or decisions have the result of hurting others in the bargain?
If, in your attempt to help someone or some group, you end up hurting another?
Volunteering to serve on a Board of Directors can lead to questions around the validity of altruism when decisions made and executed can have a negative impact upon a group of people who have standing in the issue at question.
Here are the competing questions:
- Is my altruistic outreach specific to my intention to use personal experience and abilities to ensure that an agency runs more smoothly?
- Is my participation driven by my view that an agency must have its financial act in order, however that may be defined? And however that might be achieved?
- By doing so, does this “tighter ship” goal of mine actually benefit the lives or situations of the clients and their families that we serve?
- And also, if by doing so, does this participation still count as being altruistic if I know that my decisions are actually hurting another party or parties to the issue, the clients and the workers on the front lines?
- Am I okay if my altruism results in a stakeholder group being vilified and marginalized?
- Is it part of my altruistic outlook that I’m prepared to inflict pain on one segment so as to be seen as helping another segment?
- Is collateral damage a legitimate operating principle in the quest for altruism?
- Does altruism involve the acceptance that some people may have to be hurt to satisfy the needs of others?
- Does altruism extend to granting a 10% raise to an executive when the context in which such a decision is made screams economic restraint, something articulated by that same executive?
- Does altruism allow for turning a blind eye to systemic barriers like inadequate funding?
- Would altruism ever allow a person in such a position to speak out about that?
Memberships on community boards is admirable, and important, but it’s also a tricky business. Such members seem mostly to come from the professional classes, and if not, tend to fall to individuals operating successful businesses. Apparently money talks.
Here’s an awkward question.
Does membership on a community agency board confer upon a person a sense of gravitas? A sense that you’re out there cruising with the big boys and girls, the local small-town elites who like to see and be seen with each other?
It’s almost a political thing. In fact, in many cases, it’s often a political thing. A modern day Family Compact or Chateau-Clique if you remember your Canadian history.
In such cases, then, what is the purpose of the altruism?
If it’s to put yourself in a better social position, or influential position, then I’ll argue that your so-called altruism may be a cover for your personal aggrandizement. Which means that you’re at cross-purposes with the true spirit of voluntary community service and its intent to better the plight of others who stand at a disadvantage in society.
The first part of the Hippocratic oath calls for doctors to “do no harm.” Is it impossible that a similar outlook might be legitimately applied to volunteers generally?
Because if you volunteer for something and your efforts are directed positively towards one group but negatively towards another, then in my view you’re not a volunteer anymore. You’ve crossed the line into becoming a vested interest that decidedly supports one side over the other. You are, in effect, appearing to to take on the look of a gunslinger. Somebody brought in for a specific purpose.
These are just questions and wonderings. Nobody is sullying anybody’s reputation. And while the current Board of Directors might not like questions like these, it’s not for them to like or dislike.
As a group, they have not, that I can see anyways, demonstrated any positive effort to educate the rest of us, the great unwashed, as to what it is they do and what it is they’re responsible for.
These are just legitimate questions regarding the current Board of Directors of Community Living Renfrew County South. There’s no need for anyone to go flying off the handle.
Answers to these questions would be helpful to the rest of us. We are, after all, after the same thing, right? A just settlement negotiated in good faith with fair terms? And a well-cared for client base?
Coming out from behind that curtain of silence would be a nice touch.
Maybe the rationale behind decisions and decision-making might be shared. And if the Board doesn’t have decision-making capability, perhaps we could be kindly directed to whoever does?
It may well be that these are simply good people who have been put in a tough spot.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 