Civic Engagement Take Two

I think that our debate about people only participating in volunteer work because they are self-righteous or pretentious is absolutely ridiculous. While I will not deny that these people exist, so what? I have more respect for people who help with wrong intentions than for people that do not help. Honestly, many people say they don't want to help because they do not want to end up like those people, but I feel that says a great deal more about the person they are, than their subjects of criticism. This may seem slightly harsh and it is, but I get very angry when people accuse people who their time to help others as having only self-interested motivations, especially by people who do nothing to help, nor have had much experience, if any, in volunteering. You may not want to volunteer, and that is fine, but don't you dare sit there from your ivory towers criticizing those who are making a difference, many of whom are incredibly amazing people, who are giving themselves to something they believe in. Frankly, I think those people who criticize are not only incredibly selfish, but they are ignorant of what it means to help people. One another thing that is incredibly annoying to me is when certain people have these logically structured ideas about volunteerism and helping people, when they themselves have never volunteered. How can you know anything about anything without actually experiencing it? Because you've read a philosopher or pundit who espouses those same ideals that you espouse during our Paideia group? Try then expanding your horizons and reading Rousseau or Marx. Or actually get hands on experience, and formualte your OWN opinions.
A problem that I had with our discussion in Paideia was that I constantly heard, what will I get out of this? While I believe that volunteering is not a one way street, it should be much less about me, me, me, and much more about the people we are interacting with. If it isn't, then you will probably be the only one who gets something out of it, and it will be a one way street. In fact, only caring what you get out of an interaction seems much more selfish and pretentious than helping to make yourself feel better. Actually, I take that back. It seems EXACTLY the same. And it screams egotistical. It makes me sad that certain people don't understand how alike we are as humans. When I help someone, it certainly does shape who I am as a person and I am fine with that. When I help someone, and I can connect with someone on a deeper lever, I see myself in them and I learn a great deal about myself. So, there is a benefit to helping others, but it is not one that is appreciated enough, in my opinion.
Many people were constantly asking why we should help. To me this has always been an obvious thing; if I see a person who is hurting, I want to help. When I see a child starving in Africa, it absolutely breaks my heart. There is such a polarization of us versus them in so many peoples opinions. I feel as though a great deal of people can't see the common thread that connects humanity, and so often people far away, spatially or even situationally, are seen as different, and by some, as lesser. This to me is the essence of losing what it is to be human. While our reason and logical faculties are a large part of what separates us from animals, I think the most important thing is that we are able to empathize and sympathize with others, often in spite of our logical rationale and egocentric nature.