The Obsessive-Compulsive 'do-gooders'

Many people are very filled with negativity these days and most amongst them are constantly bothered by pangs of guilt over the fact that they are not giving their spouses/children/loved ones enough of 'quality time'. They are willing to do absurd things just to feel better. In my earlier post 'Stoking the fire within' I wrote about the need to feel good. I recommended doing something concrete, something that we are good at, to achieve a sense of success. The artists amongst us can paint, poets can pen poetry, and so on, but there are a whole load of people who don't really want to do anything that involves real effort, but still want to feel good. What do they do? Give alms to people who don't deserve it, donate money to causes without even finding out their antecedents and do many other irrational things, just to feel that they have done something good. Just a little something to ease the pangs of guilt. If a meaningless act can mean lesser feelings of guilt and sounder sleep, well, so be it.

In the photograph alongside, you can see a pile of biscuits put there by one such 'do-gooder' individual, apparently to feed the stray dogs. Its another matter altogether that no stray dog in the vicinity is even remotely interested in eating it, as they can get hold of choicier food thrown out by nearby eateries! The biscuits just lie there, till they gradually mix in with the dirt or till rain or winds blow them away. In the rarest of rare events, a municipality sweeper may sweep it away. Yet, the person who threw away a packet of good biscuits went home with a lighter heart, telling himself that he had done the day's good deed, public cleanliness be damned.
If the person really cared, he could have found a hungry dog and fed it. Absurd? Well, littering a public place in this fashion seems absurd too! A friend of mine organized a fundraising drive for the cause of blind children and bemoans the fact that she could not get enough publicity or money for the cause. She is not resting on her laurels or sleeping more soundly thanks to all the feel-good energy that she has accumulated, but she is planning a bigger event that can gain more publicity and rake in more money for the cause. People like her a rarity, while the hipocrites like the one who walked away satisfied after littering up the neighborhood for nothing, are found all too often.