Helping others is the heart of Humanism
Humanism is defined by the American Humanist Association as a progressive philosophy of life, that without supernaturalism affirms are ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspires to the greater good of humanity.
While technically “aspiring” to the greater good doesn’t mean doing something to help the greater good, the bit about our ability and responsibility to work towards that makes it clear. To be a Humanist is to be committed to work for the greater good of humanity.
How do we do this? Well, you could work on grand large projects that would help humanity. But most of us are just average citizens with average abilities and average financial situations that may or may not allow us to take on big world changing projects.
What we all can do is make a conscious effort to help our friends and neighbors and the people in our communities.
I admit, I’m kind of bad at this myself. I help where I can but as a parent I seem to have way less time than I would like to volunteer to help others. But I can watch a neighbor’s kid for an afternoon if they need someone to fill in.
Every little bit helps and every little bit makes the world a slightly less miserable place. So if all you can manage is a small act of kindness, do that. We don’t all have to be world changers. Sometimes it is enough to be a life changer.
Humanism is defined by the American Humanist Association as a progressive philosophy of life, that without supernaturalism affirms are ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspires to the greater good of humanity.
While technically “aspiring” to the greater good doesn’t mean doing something to help the greater good, the bit about our ability and responsibility to work towards that makes it clear. To be a Humanist is to be committed to work for the greater good of humanity.
How do we do this? Well, you could work on grand large projects that would help humanity. But most of us are just average citizens with average abilities and average financial situations that may or may not allow us to take on big world changing projects.
What we all can do is make a conscious effort to help our friends and neighbors and the people in our communities.
I admit, I’m kind of bad at this myself. I help where I can but as a parent I seem to have way less time than I would like to volunteer to help others. But I can watch a neighbor’s kid for an afternoon if they need someone to fill in.
Every little bit helps and every little bit makes the world a slightly less miserable place. So if all you can manage is a small act of kindness, do that. We don’t all have to be world changers. Sometimes it is enough to be a life changer.
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