The movie is on TV, which is turned on in the background.  I have tried to live these last years helping others and asking them only that that they do for others when they are able.  Easy?  No.  Rewarding?  Hardly, except in my heart.  Frustrating?  Fuck'nA.  But I do it because I believe in it, and have been doing it long before I ever knew about the movie.  

There are so many ungrateful bastards out there, though, some days I just want to choke a bitch and keep what little I have as mine.  I refuse to fall into that, no matter how discouraged I get.  

It's utopian, no doubt.  Many scoff, and I've had my name drug through the mud on several occassions - most recently at another site by people I thought were friends.  Exposure creates gossip, and gossip equates to rumors, and rumors are truth to those intelligence-challenged among us.  

I don't always take the high road, and I could be a lottery with all the number combinations of my faults.  But I am an idealist who isn't afraid to view change as progress, and risk is part of that game.  Sometimes the results are positive (JB69) and other times they are negative (reference above).  But I can't help but believe in it.

I'm just curious as to your thoughts.  Discuss this issue, and let's avoid bashing, OK?  Poll inbound.

Well I want to thank you for the MP5 you sent me for x-mas. I will make sure that i do pay it forward later this year..

Thanks again man!

Quoted: Well I want to thank you for the MP5 you sent me for x-mas. I will make sure that i do pay it forward later this year.. Thanks again man!

Is that where that went?  

Long before I saw the movie.  When I used to take alot of road trips, If I ran across someone broken down I would help them out..   When they offered money I would refuse it and just say help someone else if you can.  

Thats how I live and it hasnt gotten me anywhere in life. Oh well at least I can sleep at night

Quoted: Thats how I live and it hasnt gotten me anywhere in life. Oh well at least I can sleep at night

Hasn't gotten me anywhere, either.  But like you, I can be comfortable and confident in my skin, even though I screw up.  

Nice guys finish last, but are less winded at the end of the race.

I have nothing to show, yet.  But I do believe in Karma.  It's not the reason I do the things I do, but it is comforting knowing it is there, ya know?  

Quoted: Quoted: Thats how I live and it hasnt gotten me anywhere in life. Oh well at least I can sleep at night Hasn't gotten me anywhere, either.  But like you, I can be comfortable and confident in my skin, even though I screw up.   Nice guys finish last, but are less winded at the end of the race. I have nothing to show, yet.  But I do believe in Karma.  It's not the reason I do the things I do, but it is comforting knowing it is there, ya know?

Same here...  

Quoted: Thats how I live and it hasnt gotten me anywhere in life. Oh well at least I can sleep at night

I see a problem here...

I do things when people ask, even if its shoveling gravel in the middle of the night to prepare the ground work for concrete the next morning.  Granted, its often for people I know, I don't offer bums a bowl of cereal in the morning.


Maybe thats because there aren't any bums in the area...





At any rate, I like to help people who ask out.  They usually repay the favor, or I already owe them.  I don't go looking to help strangers out though.

As long as you don't want to take my money to help other people I'm fine with it.  You can help people all you want as long as it involves only you and you take care of your own financial/family responsibilities first ie. if you leave a knocked up woman to go to Africa to fight AIDS then that is ridiculous.  Many people who start out with your philosophy often run for office as Democrats, or RINO's, and then completely fuck us.

FWIW, I give out 10's of thousands of dollars in free healthcare a year and the typical 'thank you' is "I waited for over 30 minutes blah blah blah bitch and complain".

Quoted: Long before I saw the movie.  When I used to take alot of road trips, If I ran across someone broken down I would help them out..   When they offered money I would refuse it and just say help someone else if you can.

+1 Except I've never seen the movie.

I never accept money when I assist somebody.

Quoted: Quoted: Long before I saw the movie.  When I used to take alot of road trips, If I ran across someone broken down I would help them out..   When they offered money I would refuse it and just say help someone else if you can.   +1 Except I've never seen the movie. I never accept money when I assist somebody.

Watch the movie.  Trust me.  

I believe in the 'my name is earl' theology of living....

I help out neighbors and folks I know without worrying about getting repaid.  Generally I help out because I have some spare time and can help out for a while.

I do not kill myself helping out others.  If I have something to do or get tired I don't worry what they think because I am just helping them out.

If I see someone broken down on the road I consider the risks in stopping and generally stop for elderly, hurt, or female folks who look like they could use some help.  By hurt I mean someone in a cast or whatever that can't really do as well as they normal might manage to do.  In today's world I do examine the situation before deciding if I am stopping or not.  Out here in the country I often stop, in the city or crowded burbs I let the police and roving help vans take care of it most of the time.

I have sometimes been surprised when someone did something for me after I had helped them out.  I don't expect to get paid for helping folks out and I do turn down money.  

I saw the movie a long time ago.  I think some of the things were over the top but what movie does not take things too far?

Overall I try to be polite and help others who look like they could use some help.  If someone asks I also am willing to help them out.

But then again I hold doors open for women and elderly as well, so maybe it was just the way I was raised.

Quoted: Quoted: Thats how I live and it hasnt gotten me anywhere in life. Oh well at least I can sleep at night I see a problem here...

I dont. What I am saying is that it doesnt benefit me, but I still do it. Unless it benefits me in a way I am blind to.

No, because I have no faith in humanity.

Quoted: Quoted: Thats how I live and it hasnt gotten me anywhere in life. Oh well at least I can sleep at night Hasn't gotten me anywhere, either.  But like you, I can be comfortable and confident in my skin, even though I screw up.   Nice guys finish last, but are less winded at the end of the race. I have nothing to show, yet.  But I do believe in Karma.  It's not the reason I do the things I do, but it is comforting knowing it is there, ya know?

I hate plus one-ing.
So I'll say that this has been eloquently stated.

Quoted: As long as you don't want to take my money to help other people I'm fine with it.  You can help people all you want as long as it involves only you and you take care of your own financial/family responsibilities first ie. if you leave a knocked up woman to go to Africa to fight AIDS then that is ridiculous.  Many people who start out with your philosophy often run for office as Democrats, or RINO's, and then completely fuck us. FWIW, I give out 10's of thousands of dollars in free healthcare a year and the typical 'thank you' is "I waited for over 30 minutes blah blah blah bitch and complain".

Switch to DECAF!!!!

Nah,I am more of a "screw unto others,before they can screw unto you" kinda guy.

Quoted: Long before I saw the movie.  When I used to take alot of road trips, If I ran across someone broken down I would help them out..   When they offered money I would refuse it and just say help someone else if you can.

+3

I've changed three flat tires for random little old ladies who otherwise probably would have had to call AAA.  I find it irritating that the one time that my car's tire exploded, nobody stopped for me, but WTH, it doesn't change the fact that they needed help and I was decent enough to provide it.

I don't think any of us will ever have a real idea if our efforts are appreciated to a point that it inspires others to reach out a hand.  I also don't believe it matters.  

I am not real surprised about the poll results.  In my 35 years here on planet Earth, I have found that people are nicer and more caring than they will ever project.  We talk big, but deep down it feels good to do nice things for people and ask nothing in return except to spread it around in actions.  The exceptions to this are the ones I see trying to "buy" their way into it by screaming from the rooftops everytime they contribute to some major charity (like we don't know they get it all back at tax time).  

Do any of you find the poll surprising?  Why or why not?

Quoted: It's not about YOU or what you may get back in the future.     Helping others and volunteering is about altruism... for the good of the whole. Your "reward" is the good feeling you get when you help someone out and are living right.

I think everyone here, especially myself, would agree with that 100%.

If you extend yourself to help another, you already have your reward.  The recipient of your generosity, ideally, should then seek to help another out of appreciation.

Call me an idealist or just foolish for ever thinking this, but if the world worked this way more often, we'd live in a much better place.  

Quoted: Quoted: It's not about YOU or what you may get back in the future.     Helping others and volunteering is about altruism... for the good of the whole. Your "reward" is the good feeling you get when you help someone out and are living right. I think everyone here, especially myself, would agree with that 100%. If you extend yourself to help another, you already have your reward.  The recipient of your generosity, ideally, should then seek to help another out of appreciation. Call me an idealist or just foolish for ever thinking this, but if the world worked this way more often, we'd live in a much better place.

"Remember, we're all in this together." That's the only reason you should need...


efxguy

Quoted: It's not about YOU or what you may get back in the future.     Helping others and volunteering is about altruism... for the good of the whole. Your "reward" is the good feeling you get when you help someone out and are living right.

Trust me, there are times I've helped someone, often at great inconvenience to myself, and I don't have that positive, upbeat good feeling everybody says I should have. Hell I usually feel like Taxman when it's done, downtrodden and abused. (sorry dude! )

But I'll do it all again next time. Maybe I'm a closet masochist or something?

None of your choices reflect my preference for the golden rule.  Simple is best for me.

The wife is much more generous than I am but has trouble when things don't work out the way she had hoped.

Giving of things and yourself is an art.

Speaking of movies...Heat was on last night and I was just wondering about one of the guns used  and..........

My personal greed, Killem with kindness unless they piss me off, then just killem.

I try to help folks whever I can. Regardless of what comes back to me, as I don't expect anything back from strangers. The time/money/effort I give is no longer mine once it is given, therefore I cannot lament it. Sometimes I get the warm fuzzy feeling, and sometimes I don't. But that's not the point.

Quoted: Quoted: I have nothing to show, yet.  But I do believe in Karma. Same here...

+1.

I've been rewarded and punished, more the latter than the former, I think, but that may just be me being ungrateful.

Yes, I've been burned. Bad. They'll get theirs in good time. I just hope I'm there to see it happen.

Quoted: None of your choices reflect my preference for the golden rule.  Simple is best for me. The wife is much more generous than I am but has trouble when things don't work out the way she had hoped. Giving of things and yourself is an art.

Pay it forward is slightly different than the golden rule, which is another practice I adhere to with great consistency.  Do not allow your left hand to know what your right hand is doing.  Let's talk about that, and simplicity of the rule you allude to.

We are told to keep our giving in secret, and there is a reason for that.  It needs to be taken in context, wherein Christ addressed those in the church who used their giving to make themselves appear holy, while their hearts knew they were giving off the top of the abundance.  "I'm giving more than you" is not the way we are to live.  So, the purpose of that passage is to encourage others not to be braggards and filled with arrogance - you are giving only what God gave you to give.

But paying something forward is a bit different.  It has nothing to do with money at all.  It is about action in public that encourages others to emulate your behavior out of sincere gratitude and appreciation.  In that, they are to mimic your actions, which we can all do with our unique, individual talents (unlike matching financial giving).  Some guys change tires for old ladies on the road and refuse money.  Others do electrical work for free.  Habitat for Humanity works on this principle.  

Publicity is key to the theology, as it spreads the word through actions, where others can see it is not a myth, but a working and thriving way of bettering the world and community in which they live.  Unlike, for example, tithing, paying it forward has nothing to do with spirituality or religion that could turn people off to the idea.  It is secular in nature, but only confined to the idea that what others do for us in kindness, we pay three-fold to others.  

Do you agree?

There are those that need your help and there are those who want your handout.

Matthew 25:14-30 comes to mind. Along with a number of other parables. You meet people that will take what you give them and make more of it; "teach a man to fish". You have others that simply need your handout to get to the next handout, then you have those that exploit your handouts out of greed and predation.

I'll gladly help give someone deserving a hand up and share what I have with someone who is honest in heart. Life is like that. It's my choice to do what I want with what I have and I don't need a theology to dictate that. Likewise I don't believe in "Giving Back", it wasn't given to me to begin with, I earned it and I will share or give if I so choose.

Never look for something in exchange or return but inevitably it will come back to you either materially, in knowledge or in kindness or friendship.

What comes around, goes around seen it many times. It may take many years in the case of unkind acts but justice will be administered.

In the end, live and give in that manner that you are at peace. If you feel guilt or shame for they way that you live, then you have the ability to change that. If you are a peace with how you live your life then don't burdon yourself with how others live theirs, don't worry about theologies, these are ideas of man, not God.

That concludes the sermon today from the church of CS223, please present your ammo count and rifle to the ushers for inspection as you leave.

Remember folks, helping others does not always contain that mushy, oogly, googly feeling of immediate satisfaction or warmed heart immediately.  It's not supposed to, either.  It does always happen, but it is not and never has been a prerequisite.

Let's face it, sacrifice hurts.  Don't expect to sacrifice and then feel mushy inside - that's not why it is called sacrifice.  We do it because it is the right thing to do, not for the feelings of doing it or for any perceived reward.  Don't get discouraged in your giving just because the feelings you expected are not there - they take time sometimes.  

I do it. My goal in life is to leave it in better shape than it would have been if I'd never existed, (a goal which you can never know when you've reached,) and I see it as a way of getting toward that goal.

Honestly, I believe this philosophy is in-line with Christian teaching.  Basically, doing the right thing will not protect you from harm.  It will not make your life easier.  It will not insure "God's wrath" on those who abuse it.  No greater gain will come of this because gain or repayment is not the point.  This is about living in such a way as to help make the world a better place and having the courage to put yourself on the line to do it.  It is an act of bravery and faith to do this because there is not going to be a reward for it.

Quoted: <snip> I didn't do it for him, he probably asked for his condition.  I did it for me for I'm the one better for having done it.   Tj

+1

I help others because it would haunt me if I didn't.  I also find that when I give, I always have enough, but when I don't, I come up short, whether finanacially, emotionally, or whatever...  I give to/help others because it's the right thing to do.  I've been told I'm a PollyAnna, and believe it or not I've tried to not give as much of myself, but I honestly believe it's part of my core being. When I don't give, I end up in a bad mood more often than not.  I took a personality test for work (Color Code) and I'm a blue, which means I'm a "do-gooder," motivated by having purpose and connecting with people...  Loyalty, sincerity, yada, yada, yada...  My family comes first, but if I can make someone's day better by having been at the "right plact at the right time," then so be it. (and I know God has put specific people in my path when I needed them, so I also see it as an opportunity to be His Hands...)

just my $0.02