OP-ED: Planting trees to make the world a better place
One of the electives I took in college was philosophy. During the late 1960s, Indiana University of Pennsylvania attracted some fascinating young professors, and one of them changed the way I looked at the world. The term paper I wrote for Professor Davis was titled “Exploring the Philosophical Implications of an Existential Approach to Altruism.”
That was an academic way of asking why we should bother helping anybody.
Later in life, I realized that’s one of the most important questions any of us can ask.
Existentialism suggests that meaning isn’t handed to us. We create meaning through the choices we make. We wake up every morning and make choices. Altruism says we should care about other people, even when there is nothing in it for us. When you put the two together, something interesting happens.
If life doesn’t hand us meaning, maybe we can create it. It isn’t about possessions or titles, but it can be about the choices we make for someone else.
Over the years I’ve been fortunate to help start a few things that might outlive me, and if they do, they will help people I’ll never meet.
These initiatives didn’t come with a guarantee. In fact, there were plenty of people who thought they were either impossible or shouldn’t even happen. But existentialism tells us that certainty isn’t required before you decide to do something. You make a choice. You act on that choice. Then you accept responsibility for any consequences that may come because of what you did.
When I think about the people who had a positive influence on my life, they were teachers who stayed after school because they believed in me before I believed in myself. Neighbors who shoveled a sidewalk without being asked. Relatives who encouraged me. Mentors who opened doors. Friends who were my cheerleaders throughout this journey.
None of them knew how their kindness would impact my life. They made the choice to be kind. That choice might be the purest form of altruism there is.
Our culture measures success by dollars, promotions, followers, awards, and headlines. They have their place, but they aren’t the only measure of a successful life.
Sometimes the most meaningful thing you’ll ever do may never even be known. A word of encouragement. A handwritten note. Time spent listening instead of talking. A donation no one else hears about. A child who grows into a remarkable adult because one person cared at exactly the right moment.
Most of us can probably think of someone who changed our lives without ever realizing it. They weren’t looking for recognition. They decided that helping another person mattered. Looking back, I think we are all standing on someone else’s shoulders.
If there is a common thread running through every major religion and most philosophical traditions, it is that our lives become bigger when they stop being just about ourselves.
Whether you believe that purpose comes from God or from the choices we make every day, the outcome is similar. Be kind. Be generous. Leave things a little better than you found them.
I’ve reached the point where I have figured out that history probably won’t remember me, and let’s face it, out of the billions of people who have lived on this earth, history has forgotten most of them. What matters is whether someone’s life is a little happier, safer, healthier, or better because we knew each other.
That’s what an existential approach to altruism really means.
It’s not about the applause. It’s not about certainty. It’s just deciding, every day, that while we’re here, we’ll try to make this world a better place.
As Tagore said, “The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.”
If enough of us decide to make that choice, meaning is something we can create together.