<p>I have a dilemma that I hope someone out there might be able to identify with and impart wisdom on. In short, I simply cannot extrapolate how important morality and altruism are in our society, and what role they should play in a compassionate but realistic persons life.</p>
<p>I am 21 years old, finishing a BA in political science at a 4 yr university. I chose this field because I have a real passion for understanding what I see every day when I walk out the door or turn on a television; power, manipulation, emotion, rhetoric, norms, implicit and explicit rules, values, assumptions, and endless contradictions. Having cultivated a a marginal sense of understanding of these things, I see deeply disturbing signs in the present and future for us as a civilization and have a highly developed sense of empathy and compassion for the poor and dispossessed thats stems from experiences in my life that have left me with the compulsion to change things… However, I feel utterly lost about what to do for a living.</p>
<p>Though it had been my goal for years to work in the field of international or domestic politics, I’ve come to believe that working for a government is potentially terribly immoral due to the extent of corporate interests that define modern governance which ensure that these institutions continue to benefit the few and harm the vast majority. NGO’s and International organizations are unfortunately a part of the same web of interests and in short I’m quite skeptical of working in an ineffectual bureaucracy that has inherently contradictory goals. This said, the argument of doing little harm to do greater good is sound enough to me to warrant consideration. But recently I have started to think about careers I had ruled out before like international business, law and other paths that would allow me to use the knowledge i’ve acquired, all of which I see as providing a good standard of living but at the same time as amoral and corrupting. As my idealism has diminished, I have come to try to see things for what they are rather than what I wish they were.</p>
<p>---------------------------------------------------------------------- “…And I thought, my God… the genius of that! The genius! The will to do that! Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we, because they could stand that. These were not monsters, these were men… trained cadres. These men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love… but they had the strength… the strength… to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men, our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral… and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling… without passion… without judgment… without judgment! Because it’s judgment that defeats us.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p>The quote above is from the film ‘Apocalypse Now’. In it, the character is expressing the idea that in war one must shed all compassion and empathy, seeing what needs to be done and doing it, facing it directly. I have been considering this idea for some time now and connections between life in our society and combat have come to the fore of my mind. My view of the current global socio-economic paradigm and the ruthlessness with which hedge fund managers and CEO’s will manipulate, poison, and destroy anything or anybody that might give them an edge in the market (not because they are evil, but because the system demands it) has come to resemble that of a zero-sum battleground where the winners are those who allow their greed to envelop them, not their conscious or altruism. </p>
<p>With this as a backdrop, I could really use some advice as to what a human being, with all the fragility and susceptibility to the corrosive effects of poverty in our society, who wants to affect positive change should do in a culture with such little regard for empathy. I have been carefully considering the option of perusing a career (in international business/trade for example) that offers a reasonably comfortable and healthy lifestyle but also demands abandoning certain morals and values to be successful. The core idea behind this consideration is that in such a position, one would be more free to do positive things in private life than a person with the burden of massive debts and a lower wage job that while in part serves a greater purpose, severely restricts the quality and mobility of a private life.</p>
<p>However, while I believe that the biological inclinations toward empathy and compassion in human beings should not be diminished, I also believe philanthropy and charity are misdirected manifestations of these inclinations, and that the energy and passion that are channeled into it should be directed to holistic social change. As Oscar Wilde wrote, “It is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought.”</p>
<p>---------------------------------------------------------------------- “The majority of people spoil their lives by an unhealthy and exaggerated altruism-- are forced, indeed, so to spoil them. They find themselves surrounded by hideous poverty, by hideous ugliness, by hideous starvation. It is inevitable that they should be strongly moved by all this. The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man’s intelligence; and, as I pointed out some time ago in an article on the function of criticism, it is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought. Accordingly, with admirable, though misdirected intentions, they very seriously and very sentimentally set themselves to the task of remedying the evils that they see. But their remedies do not cure the disease: they merely prolong it. Indeed, their remedies are part of the disease.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p>Yet the intense desire in humans to change our circumstances, driven by our biological inclinations toward empathy and cooperation, have indeed been the driving force behind every major social and technological advancement in human history, and this understanding continues to inspire my optimism about prospects for social change.</p>
<p>I suppose my question in many ways comes down to this; what truly breeds contentment? A comfortable life with reasonable “freedom”, but with a career that promotes a selfish and destructive system, while maintaining an inconsiderable disposition to achieve any lasting positive impact. Or, living a life of lower (arguably degrading and oppressive) standards and respectable but marginal service to a greater cause, but in accordance with ones beliefs, morals, and conscious while still maintaining an inconsiderable disposition to achieve any lasting positive impact.</p>
<p>—Thank you to anyone who read this, I know that everyone struggles with what to do with their lives, (if they are lucky enough to have a choice to make) I don’t mean to complain, and of course the choice must be intensely personal, but I have been struggling with this dilemma for years now and I would be truly very grateful to anyone who might have a moment to share some wisdom/thoughts/experiences or really any advice. — Thank you.</p>