In Reply to: Orphanage Experiences posted by cheynewalk on Monday, 19. May 2008 at 13:00 Bali Time:
Whats so bad about feeling good about doing something for another person?
Helping others is good for the soul. If I help an old lady load her shopping into the car, I get a little "Awww shucks" feeling when she says thank you. It feels nice to know that with 2 minutes of your day you helped someone, instead of sitting at home watching TV.
I think feeling good about yourself is often a motivation to go out of your way to help.
By telling others, I don't think people are saying "Look at me and how nice I am," but instead they're saying "Here is something you can do with minimal effort that will help out a lot, and it feels good too."
In a perfect world we'd all put 20% of our pay into a bank account to help third world countries, but unfortunately we're not perfect.
People visiting the orphanages aren't heroes or saints, but no matter their motivation it's better than sitting on a beach getting a massage and not helping at all!
And hey, any taste of how good it feels to help may make people participate in other volunteer situations.