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How have you helped the world? (serious thread)
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bstone
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Sep 26, 2011, 01:22 AM
 
As the title says, how have you helped the world? What have you done that has benefited the world and other people? In what way have you gone beyond yourself and done something for someone else without the expectation of any reward?

Please keep the replies serious and on-topic. Thanks.
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Athens
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Sep 26, 2011, 01:32 AM
 
I haven't done anything for the world but I have taken a few people under my wings over the years at great personal cost to me. My current roommate would have been in jail many years ago by now had I not taking him in. Will my efforts be for nothing, only time will tell. For all I know the people I have helped will do some great thing that benefits the planet or help some one else that then benefit the planet. All any one can do is try and be a good person to others. You never know if the person you saved from death by pushing them out of the way of a drunk driver, or rescuing them through a bad time of their lives goes on to be the person who cures HIV or something else.

PS as the thread starter, what have you done?
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bstone  (op)
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Sep 26, 2011, 01:54 AM
 
Originally Posted by Athens View Post
PS as the thread starter, what have you done?

I'm going to toot my own horn for a few moments, or so it may seem, but please be assured that I did everything for the sole sake of helping my fellow human being.

My major volunteer work was in immediate post-Katrina Gulf Coast. I built and administrated a tent-based medical clinic in an area that was the only medical resource for about 40 miles. Here's the Wikipedia article on it: New Waveland Cafe and Clinic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

During this time I slept in the back of my car for three months and spent every moment of my conscious life making sure there was a steady flow of doctors, nurses, medications, free medical supplies (like glucometers) and also taking care of patients in an emergency (I'm an EMT-Intermediate).

M.A.S.H. in Miss. - Roanoke.com
Lamplighter: Undergraduate Provides Medical Aid in Rural Mississippi

In addition to this, I spent five summers doing essentially the same at a large free music/camping festival (called the Rainbow Gathering) that attracts a huge number of homeless and indigent people. I would spend up to a month setting up the tent-based medical clinic and arranging for doctors, medications, etc while also tending to medical emergencies.

I was a Boy Scout for 7 years. Did a lot of volunteer work then. I'm also in the middle of becoming a member of a local town's Auxiliary Police Department, which is completely volunteer.
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ghporter
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Sep 26, 2011, 07:21 AM
 
I spent over 11 years teaching college level technical training in the Air Force and encouraged every one of my students to go for more and more education, in or out of the service. I've impacted somewhere over 3000 people's lives in this way. After I retired, I went to school and became an occupational therapist, and I help people with disabilities and dysfunctions, and their families, every day. I've seen patients go from feeling completely disabled to walking out with a smile on their faces, and that tells me that I've been successful too.

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SSharon
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Sep 26, 2011, 02:18 PM
 
As bstone already knows, I've spent about 1000 hours volunteering on ambulances. I can't say I've done much recently though so maybe this thread will be the inspiration to do some local volunteering. Has anyone here walked into a soup kitchen and said "how can I help?" How did it work out?
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SpaceMonkey
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Sep 26, 2011, 04:10 PM
 
I work for an influential non-profit organization, so in that sense I broadly contribute to a social good although I have not specifically spent a lot of time volunteering.

What inspired this thread?

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olePigeon
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Sep 26, 2011, 04:26 PM
 
Volunteered for about a decade teaching WWII veterans, cancer survivors, and low income and/or disabled students linear digital video editing so they could relay their stories to future generation. In the process I got to meet two Army Air Corps Medal of Honor recipients, one of them a Tuskegee Airman.
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subego
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Sep 26, 2011, 04:56 PM
 
I try to be nice to people.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Sep 26, 2011, 05:14 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
I try to be nice to people.
     
Face Ache
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Sep 26, 2011, 06:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
I try to be nice to people.
I defend the weak, protect the innocent, and routinely perform feats of great heroism.

Also, I stay in the slow lane unless overtaking.
     
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Sep 26, 2011, 07:02 PM
 
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subego
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Sep 26, 2011, 09:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by Face Ache View Post
Also, I stay in the slow lane unless overtaking.
People who don't do this really frost my ass.

I imagine people don't like me going 110, so I guess it evens out.
     
Lateralus
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Sep 26, 2011, 09:49 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
People who don't do this really frost my ass.
Cop trolls slowpoke in the fast lane - YouTube
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Sep 26, 2011, 10:14 PM
 
I help teach in special needs classrooms.
     
bstone  (op)
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Sep 26, 2011, 11:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey View Post
I work for an influential non-profit organization, so in that sense I broadly contribute to a social good although I have not specifically spent a lot of time volunteering.

What inspired this thread?
I was thinking about how selfish people are. How most people only care about what can be done for them but not how they give back. I am curious how people here give back.
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Sep 26, 2011, 11:25 PM
 
I have a non-profit called Compassion4. We're currently working in Cambodia, providing a transition home for kids that age-out of the orphanage we work with so that they can become acclimated to living in the city, being responsible, etc., etc. We also put kids through University. We do loads more, but that's the gist.

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bstone  (op)
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Sep 26, 2011, 11:25 PM
 
Originally Posted by RAILhead View Post
I have a non-profit called Compassion4. We're currently working in Cambodia, providing a transition home for kids that age-out of the orphanage we work with so that they can become acclimated to living in the city, being responsible, etc., etc. We also put kids through University. We do loads more, but that's the gist.

Compassion4: Compassion is Global
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Compa...83892821661098
That's awesome!
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el chupacabra
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Sep 26, 2011, 11:36 PM
 
As the title says, how have you helped the world? What have you done that has benefited the world and other people?
huh a thread for people to come brag about themselves. I should fit right in.
Well his greatness, me, has saved the world from imminent destruction several times. Although I don't expect anyone here to believe me. It all started when I was just a wee poquitacabra and me family of poor conservative loggers and farmers taught me respect the forest, don't clear cut the trees, if you do cut a tree replant one in its place etc.. The big ultra "efficient" corporations from the city just come and clear cut everything which not only kills wildlife and of course, trees... but all the fish in downhill streams from silt run off. I came to realize how important natural lands are and began my quest to become an environmentalist. My goal in life was simple: become rich, and use riches to conserve our resources, sustenance; the environment. the thing which nobody cares about so while you guys are all out trying to Easter Islandize yourselves, el chupacabra the magnificent watches over you. And when the great depression hits and poor city dwellers come angrily screaming how chupacabra should give them all his food from his farm for free he will have some, and he will say "here, here is some food for you" even though el chupacabra does not particularly like lazy poor city people.

Originally Posted by subego View Post
I try to be nice to people.
hehe.. This actually might be one the most important. Especially if someone is being all rude and angry at you whether it's tailgating in the fast lane or whatever. Best thing to do is understand things are rarely ever personal and be nice even to rude people.... by moving over into the slow lane. It's amazing how shocked people get when they come up all angry and fuming and then you're nice to them when you don't have to be. It makes their day; and then of course I believe in the pay if forward thing, so if you're nice to someone they will pass that on to the next person they meet and if you're spiteful they will pass that on to the next 50 people they meet... Thats just how it works.
     
James L
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Sep 26, 2011, 11:36 PM
 
I'm a 15 year paramedic, and have taught programs from basic first aid classes to paramedic programs for many years.

I currently have a program that provides free first aid training to at risk youth, people on probation, job development programs, a battered woman's shelter, etc. This helps the students with their resume and job skills development.

Good times.
( Last edited by James L; Sep 26, 2011 at 11:42 PM. )
     
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Sep 27, 2011, 05:35 AM
 
I've not been a burden to the rest of the world. That's it.

Anything I've done to help others was merely me helping individuals. If anything of that also 'helped the world' then great, but it wasn't my intention.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Sep 27, 2011, 10:22 AM
 
Originally Posted by Lateralus View Post
Heh. The guy driving the car would have got booked here for overtaking on the right.
     
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Sep 27, 2011, 10:28 AM
 
I used to perform magic for the retirement home folks when I was in my late teens and early 20's.
     
The Final Dakar
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Sep 27, 2011, 10:43 AM
 
Originally Posted by Lateralus View Post
New Jersey, there's a ****ing surprise.

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
Heh. The guy driving the car would have got booked here for overtaking on the right.
Yeah, we've been down this path before. Not here.

     
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Sep 27, 2011, 11:22 AM
 
I warm up the planet, so that some people can spend less on fuel and electricity during the winter. The carbon dioxides from my cars are saving the world. Makes me feel all warm and tingly inside. There's also the $3.2M given to NPOs in the last 18 months, but that pales in comparison.
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Sep 27, 2011, 11:38 AM
 
I run a non-profit with my mother.
     
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Sep 27, 2011, 08:29 PM
 
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ghporter
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Sep 27, 2011, 08:55 PM
 
Well, well, well. We seem to have a mixture of "I'm taking this seriously" and "I'm not serious at all." el chupacabra is kind of right in that the thread subject might tend to encourage braggartry, but that isn't something that some of us have trouble avoiding.

As for the not-serious crowd, maybe you could share how or what you see as things people can do TO help the world. Cheap solar panels? Accessible fair-trade coffee in recycled cups? Shoes that fit? (I half-seriously think that a lot of the world's troubles could be reduced if everyone had good-fitting shoes; think Kim Jong Il wearing proper shoes that didn't make him hate the world...). Anyway, how about it? If you don't think you've impacted the world yourself, how could others make a positive difference?

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quesera
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Sep 27, 2011, 11:19 PM
 
I'm in my 17th year of teaching inner-city, public school. I teach in the same district that educated me and afforded me the opportunity to attend a pretty good university. I broke my parents' hearts and became a public school teacher. I feel mostly good about what I do, despite the ongoing war against public schools, teachers, and poor children.

I'm fairly proud to say that we have been near the top of state accountability ratings for almost a decade, and beyond that, we are now an open-enrollment campus which attracts a wide socio-economic group to our campus. We have the children of doctors, the military, business people, university professors, and artists attending alongside those who struggle to attain the American Dream. My daughter went to my school and my measure of our success was always wanting to teach at a school that I would want my children to attend.

I do get paid, of course. Not enough, of course. And sometimes the cliches are true, tossing back starfish on the beach, knowing that we're missing way too many, but making the difference in the lives of a few. Our children face so many ugly realities that no child should have to face.

It's not enough. Outside of work, we do little good as a family. No church, no charitable endeavors. Children keep us busy and our family has some storms to weather just now. Still, I think we need to find the opportunity to do more.
( Last edited by quesera; Sep 28, 2011 at 07:09 AM. )
     
subego
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Sep 28, 2011, 03:58 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
Anyway, how about it? If you don't think you've impacted the world yourself, how could others make a positive difference?
They could stop judging other people.

Seriously. It's an evolutionary adaptation which needs be rejected in whole cloth.

Beyond that, an understanding that humility is the most virtuous of the virtues.

Lastly, brush your teeth, take a shower, and smoke weed every day.
( Last edited by subego; Sep 28, 2011 at 04:04 AM. )
     
design219
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Sep 28, 2011, 09:01 AM
 
Since my dad needed blood during an illness about 20 years ago, I've donated blood as often as possible. It doesn't cost anything and helps others.

I built a house about 8 years ago and did everything possible (and affordable) to build "green". Since then, I've been a bit of an evangelist for green and sustainable building practices.

Oh, and I too try to be nice to people.
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Sep 28, 2011, 09:25 AM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
I run a non-profit with my mother.
Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² View Post
cheap whores are the best.
This exchange brightened my day. Thank you, MacNN Forums.
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SpaceMonkey
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Sep 28, 2011, 10:29 AM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
They could stop judging other people.

Seriously. It's an evolutionary adaptation which needs be rejected in whole cloth.

Beyond that, an understanding that humility is the most virtuous of the virtues.

Lastly, brush your teeth, take a shower, and smoke weed every day.
Maybe you should stop being so judgmental of judgmental people, hmm?

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subego
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Sep 28, 2011, 06:12 PM
 
I'm not though.

It's not their fault. We were designed to harshly judge the tribe over the hill because for most of humanity's existence that tribe was trying to enslave or kill us. It used to be a completely valid survival trait.

Society has moved past that, but our programming hasn't.
     
calverson
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Oct 1, 2011, 03:55 PM
 
I saved someone's life one, literally. It is only helping the world if that guy does more right than wrong–if he turns out to be a pedophile or a terrorist–that is not helping the world, now is it?

And then, of course:

This, and this.
     
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Oct 3, 2011, 03:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
I try to be nice to people.
Me too.

Despite all the odds against it, I became a teacher. So I've sent thousands of young brains formerly full of mush out into the world to "Do good work." I try to live my life as an example to my current and former students, to show them what it takes to achieve success, and that just about anyone can achieve their goals if they work hard enough. And I try to mentor anyone who wants it, just as my mentors worked with me.
     
   
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