Ecopol Project - Portland State University

How far does your humanity stretch?

I, like most urban city dwellers, am familiar with the rampant homeless populace in the United States. And I, just like anyone else, can point my finger at the myriad of catalysts - addictions, abuse, income inequality, poor public policy, oppressive social norms, and bipartisan politics. I can blame almost anything I want and I would probably be partially right. But I’m not pointing, and I won’t. Again, just like everyone else, I don’t have an answer, nor do I pretend to.

First off, I don’t believe in the Kierkagaardian existential self – we are products of our environment….we are our environment. So to see suffering in our environment, we see suffering in ourselves. Moral and social consequentialist responsibilities boil to the surface when we see pain or suffering in our communities, and empathy is only a natural response. Our internal vacuums can then be momentarily satiated through benefaction and benevolence – we are then given a glimpse of purpose. A fundamental aspect of being human is that compassion, because it gives us a deep rooted feeling of safety and community - two things we need to survive.

So how big are your communities that deserve your helping hand? Is it just your family, your neighborhood, your city, or all of humankind? Should you have the same sympathy for the dehydrated child in a country whose name you can’t pronounce that you would if your own child were dehydrated? It seems as though your moral obligation to those in need is positively correlated to social proximity, and homeless people happen to sit in a purgatory; a community close enough to help, because you can physically see and hear them, but far enough away that it doesn’t directly affect your life. Your insides might get uncomfortable seeing members of your own community in squalor. They are humans and deserve dignity and help far beyond just money. But you still don’t do anything substantial about it, and those prized moral convictions collapse. Why is that?

It seems absurd that “we should each sacrifice to the point that everyone lives at an equal material level,” for always there will be greater and lesser persons then yourself. Those internal moral convictions aren’t imperative or legally binding. You didn’t sign up to be a human. And you didn’t cause that persons heroin addiction. Nor did you give them their PTSD. Their misfortunes and injustices lie with them. But, if helping those in need makes you feel all lovey-dovey inside? Awesome! If there’s some positive thing you can do in your life that makes you feel better while simultaneously making someone else feel better? That’s great. But if not, that is completely fine, too. Not everyone is designed to help others. And many of us are struggling just to get through the day. If you’re giving every day your best shot, you’re already doing enough. Just don’t be a dick. 

-Isaac Pea

P.S. If you're curious about what put me on this rant, check out this article from Washington State University about our moral obligation to strangers.