When I was in college I was involved in student government. At the beginning of the year there were elections for the Freshmen and then the following weekend there was a retreat. On the retreat you went away in the woods and did teambuilding and goal setting stuff. My first year on the Senate I was a sophomore and shy when we went away and was even more shocked at the end of the night when someone pulled out a book of questions and we sat in a circle with the lights off answering them. I was shy and really didn't like sharing about myself answers to things like "who are my heroes?" or "What was the greatest day of my life?". The other type A-'s in the group though loved having that platform to talk about themselves. And at first it was interesting. People telling you their favorite song or favorite movie. The questions though were building to a creshendo and I remember one senior girl telling us that her one wish was that her mother would get better, and a freshman girl telling us about the time she was sexually assaulted. The other thing that was clearly obvious though were two things. The freshman men trying to make themselves appealing to the sorority girls, and the upperclassmen trying to make themselves appealing to the freshman women. The second year I went on the trip I was a little more jaded. There were moments of sincerity like someone talking about the time they were in coma, but for the most part I could just see something that was supposed to be a moment filled with truth to just be a moment filled with people angling for something. And then the topper of them all was senior year.
There was a guy who I will call Ryan. He was short, like 5-5. He had one of those crew cuts with long sideburns that made him look like a monkey. He had an earnestness however that made him seem genuine. So we get to question time, and by this point I already had one job offer, I had recently found out that my parents were getting divorces. To call me jaded is like saying that Prince Charles ears are a little big. So immediately I can tell Ryan is trying to play into the adorable factor that his size suggests. He actually answered "puppies" to one question. And then came a question and I think it was "name something you are proud of"... now me being jaded probably said something like, "being able to be a part of such a driven group of my fellow students." Which to the advisors made me look like a hero, but to two or three people who really knew me they thought it was incredibly funny. When the time came for Ryan to answer, he began to tell a story about how his neighbor is a single mother, because the father died of cancer. He told of how everyday in high school he would stop over and visit the child and help the mother with things like taking out the trash. And then he said and I remember this forever because I almost vomited. "the toughest part of being away at school is that I don't get to see him any more, and make sure he is okay. but I keep a picture of him" he took out his wallet "so that I can still keep him close." There were tears from a few of the girls, there were aahs. and although the room was completely dark I could tell that a few of my buddies and I were simoutaneously throwing up in our mouths. That night after the question round we had a big campfire. Everyone was in flannel PJ's and hooded sweatshirts. There on the opposite side of the fire as we told stories and jokes and laughed... was Ryan cuddling with a super-foxy junior sorority girl.
The moral of this story is the next week I signed up for Big Brothers... Just kidding. The moral of this story is that even altruistic people eventually use their good deeds for personal gain.
Why do I bring this up? not sure, but I think has something to do with reading an interview with Al Gore talking about the environment.