Altruism

If we are vegan and can’t understand why others are not, it may be worth considering why vegans are willing to give away a lot of benefits in life for the sake of helping to save animals. Why do vegans think so seriously about animals and translate that concern into their daily lives. Perhaps it’s because vegans are more altruistic? But is that simply selflessness or is it something more interesting? What does the idea altruism involve?

Altruism (in its common usage) is immune to criticism and beyond reproach because it’s meant to be about selflessness and considering other peoples’ interests before our own. But like Nietzsche, I believe this definition is demeaning. More particularly, it’s unrealistic because it is the kind of purity no one can keep up. We are survivors and therefore have to be selfish thinkers and self-interested. We love to look after our own first and others afterwards. If we now have to reappraise this notion, it is to consider the plain common sense of a relative altruism; one that we can enjoy unashamedly because it feels good to be doing something for others whilst doing something good for ourselves.

There’s a lot of giving-out needed today; yet we shouldn’t have to pretend to neglect our own interests to get our reward; because if we are brutally honest with ourselves, it’s the reward we think about. The reward is like incoming energy. It seems opposite to altruism which is always giving energy away. So, at its heart, altruism must be self rewarding. If it isn’t, why deplete yourself for it? Doing good without getting some recognition back, makes us become resentful. It’s only natural to expect something back. We give a birthday present, we expect a thank you. And if it doesn’t appear, we notice that. We’re less inclined to bother next birthday.
Whatever we do, even if it’s a paid job, we need something extra, a different kind of reward, a recognition, because that is the lubrication and it's is vital. This makes what we do run smoother, which makes us want to give our all. Which is much better than being pinched into giving the bare minimum expected. We need to feel energetic and energised by what we do. We all like the feeling of giving quality to our jobs and giving quality to our relationships. By being vegan we give quality to our own life and at the same time to the lives of the animals we help save from being reared, killed and eaten.