Image Transcription
(A 4Chan “green-text”, titled “Altruism”, with a close-up photograph of a turtle on the pavement)
Riding bike through town
See something strange on the side of the road
Decide to stop and investigate
It’s a turtle tucked into its shell
Hold finger in front of shell
Turtle pokes its head out, sniffs finger, and then retreats back into it’s shell
It’s a hot day, and there are no bodies of water nearby
There’s a river a few miles away, decide to take the turtle there
Ride bike with one hand while holding the turtle
People look at me strangely
Don’t care, the turtle is all that matters
Turtle pokes its head out when going fast downhill
Probably the fastest the turtle has ever gone
Finally reach the river
Set the turtle on the shore under some shade
After about 10 seconds the turtle crawls into the water
Looks back at me before submerging and swimming away
Feel more emotion in that moment than I have in the last few years
Despite my mistakes and shortcomings, a creature’s life was made better by my existence
Is using our time to help others the real answer?
I thought this was going to end like the time someone threw the tortoise into a lake
Short answer: yes.
We’re social creatures and our lizard brain has been programmed by natural selection to help others and be good stewards to our environment. Those feelings come from a dopamine rush as a biological reward for practicing behaviours that have lead to survival and prosperity.
The triune brain is an obsolete theory.
Natural selection also selected self-preservation, fear of the unknown and a plethora of other biases that lead to all kinds of anti-social behavior, there’s not much foundation for ethics to be found in natural selection.
Damn science harshing my wholesome vibes.
Seriously though, that’s an interesting point I’ll have to look into that.
It’s not too likely that any one of us will change the world, but every one of us can change someone’s world. Even if that someone is a turtle.
You’re in a desert, walking along when you look down and see a tortoise. It’s crawling toward you. You reach down and flip it over on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over. But it can’t. Not with out your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?
It makes me happy to think that for all my fuckups, I may have still helped improve somebodys life in some small way.