Which would you choose: to remain silent about your charitable activities or, on the contrary, to turn the loudspeaker on for your good deeds and inspire others, making acts of charity visible and filling the world with stories about the Good?
What do we have now?
Does goodness really love silence? Should genuine good deeds be done quietly? Must charity be anonymous only?
The idea that one should remain silent about one’s good deeds because you are vain if you are talking about your kindness or generosity has rooted deeply in most people’s minds. We are used to the mindset, “if you do something good, do it quietly. Don’t brag about it; if you talk about your good deeds, you must not be sincere and do it for publicity’s sake.”
One of the reasons why we feel ashamed to talk about our good deeds and try to avoid doing so is that, unfortunately, the concept of public charity is often blurred in the modern world. Indeed, charitable acts are sometimes used to gain prestige or appear to be following fashionable trends; therefore, good deeds become a smoke screen or status attribute.
But, on the other hand, charity is the oxygen for our society, and we cut off our own air supply when we deprive it of a public platform.
If the good is silent, WHAT will speak in its place? Do we not turn up the volume for its opposite when we “muffle” the sound of goodness?
What can we have?
You can be silent about the good things you do every day: for example, you help an animal shelter or spend a few hours a week talking and playing with children or the elderly in specialized institutions. But you could, instead, try telling people about your good deeds directly or through social networks.
What would change in the latter case? The soft whisper of goodness could finally be heard in the info glut of the web!
Why do superficial photos of a new dress, a delicious meal, or a glamorous vacation always have their place on TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram, but we try to silence the goodness?
If you share the story of your good deed or that of your friends, you will be filled with the energy and power of goodness and inspire many other people to do good, causing a domino effect of action. “I can do that too” and “I want that too!” are the most natural and common reactions to reading about someone’s active kindness, especially when you realize that helping someone is actually easy. And you don’t need to be a millionaire to do so.
Such simple things as giving a set of paints to a boy from a large family in your neighborhood, a package of fruit to a lonely elderly woman, or a package of cat food for homeless kittens can be that very spark in the info glut that matters. The “mathematics” of charity is simple: the more people who do good deeds and talk about them, the wider the circle of volunteers becomes.
What can each of us do to make it happen?
The “loudspeaker” for good deeds will help us make charity visible. But unfortunately, a lack of information is the one thing that stops many people from being interested in charity.
Perhaps we should remove this barrier and show that charity is available to everyone; you must find your way of helping others — and then the changes will happen! You don’t need superpowers for this; just keep helping others and telling your friends and acquaintances about it.
Do you think it can propel positive changes? What steps do you believe are necessary to make the domino effect work for goodness?