What mental and moral obstacles hinder altruistic action?
Although an altruistic impulse is not necessarily a right impulse to
follow, there are a great many altruistic duties which are clear and
summoning; and it is a never ending disappointment to the man of social
conscience to behold the apathy wherewith obvious social duties are
regarded. It will be worthwhile to pause and note the chief mental
and moral obstacles that prevent a more general devotion to social
betterment.
(1) The most formidable obstacle, perhaps, is the selfishness of those
who are themselves .well enough off. Our cities, and even, to some
extent, our small towns, grow up in "quarters"; the rich living in
one district and the poor in another. This permits the suffering of
the latter to go unknown or only half-realized by the former. The
well-to- do have many interests and many pleasant uses for their money;
the call of the unfortunate-"Come over and help us!"- rings faint and
far away in their ears. Or they may excuse their callousness by the
assertion that the poor are used to their evil living conditions, do
not mind them, and are as contented, on the whole, as the rich;
complacently ignoring the fact that being used to conditions is not
the same as enjoying or profiting by them, and that contentment by
no means implies a useful or desirable life. It is true that the needy
are often but dimly conscious of their needs; in that very fact lies
a reason why the favored classes should rouse them out of their dullness,
save them from the physical and moral degeneration into which they
so unconsciously and helplessly drift.
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