Heroism is a pathology?

According to Andrea Kuszewski, a Behavior Therapist and Consultant, altruism is pathological. She explains her way of thinking here. To be fair, she does make the point that extreme altruism is pathological. She herself cannot be devoid of a certain amount of altruism considering her work with autism spectrum in children. One can only hope that she does not consider common charitable acts for the sake of helping others out of a sense of compassion and care for others, especially others we don't know, as pathological. Perhaps she has trouble understanding why a person would place himself, and by association his loved ones, in harm's way "just" to help another person. I wonder how she reconciles this line of thinking with the actions of Tod Beamer and the others on that doomed flight on Sept. 11, 2001? But perhaps my use of this example is unfair, considering the level of national emotion attached to this event.

She says that personality is "extremely heritable," but also that one's personality might diverge from its genetic fate (if I may use that term) by circumstances and experiences. However, later she comments that altruistic persons, or "X-altruists" as she calls them, are "compelled" to act as they do.

X-altruists are compelled to good, even when doing so makes no sense and brings harm upon them. The cannot tolerate injustice, and go to extreme lengths to help those who have been wronged, regardless of their personal relationship to them. Now, I am not speaking of the guy who helps an old lady cross the street. I am speaking of the guy who throws himself in front of a speeding bus to push the old lady out of the way, killing himself in the process. The average, kind, thoughtful person does not take these kinds of extreme personal risks on a regular basis.

She qualifies her statement by saying that these extreme acts of altruism resulting in a personal sacrifice happen infrequently, that the "average thoughtful person does not take these kinds of extreme personal risks on a regular basis." Well, perhaps extreme events do not happen on a "regular basis." I mean, how often does one see an old lady about to be run down by a speeding bus, or something similar?

According to this therapist's way of thinking, there's very little difference between a sociopath and an "X-altruist." They both are impulsive, like novelty in their lives, and have a tendency to break rules. However, the distinction between the two is that "X-altruists" behave from external motivations, i.e. a concern for others and the common good, and sociopaths behave from internal motivations, i.e. selfishness and/or greed. "X-altruists" have "too much empathy" which causes them to put themselves in harm's way and break rules to help others. However, she points out, we are supposed to be law-abiding citizens and questions the good of breaking rules in order to save another person, and comes just short of calling a caring person a criminal. I wonder if that little old lady about to be hit by that speeding bus would consider her savior a criminal? Thank goodness Tod Beamer broke the airline's rule to stay in his seat on that infamous flight back in 2001!

A New Animal Sighting

It's 4:30 pm, just starting to get dark (early because of an overcast sky), and one of my outside alarms sounded, so I took my binoculars on the front porch to see what it was. It was a bobcat at the end of my driveway. It stood there for a moment and then jumped into the woods. This is a first around here. I wondered what was making my cats so nervous all day.

The Day We Caught a Mama Raccoon

For the past month or so, the shed where I keep my chicken feed has been broken into and sometimes the lids taken off the metal cans that store the grain for my chickens. So, I've alternately set a "raccoon repeller," which is a small motion detector that emits a high-pitched sound when it's set off. This has worked very well, but I can't always set the motion detector because occasionally I get home well after dark, and 'coons are out and about just when it's good and dark--about 45 minutes after sunset--and again just before dawn. On these days my chickens are vulnerable to the raccoons until I can get home and lock them up. I have lost several chickens in the past few months, so on weekends and days my husband is home, I've been setting our trap to capture and relocate at least some of the coons. So, I was not surprised this morning when I went up to the poultry yard to find a big raccoon in the trap. She was so upset that she had turned the trap over on its side in her efforts to get out. No coon had ever done that before, and I wondered about it. However, I picked up the trap and set it down in the back yard out of the poultry yard so that we could take care of the coon after breakfast.

As I was fixing breakfast, I looked out my kitchen window and saw another raccoon coming down the path from the poultry yard. It was smaller than the one in the trap, and it would stop every couple of feet, raise itself up a bit on its hind legs and sniff the air. It found the trapped coon and went right up to it. They seemed happy to see each other and sniffed noses through the cage wire. The trapped coon must have been the little one's mama. Well, this just settled the matter. I called to my husband to look out the window to see this drama. Of course, there was absolutely no question now that we would let the mama coon out of the trap so she could be with her baby. However, raccoons are not the safe, cuddly little creatures they appear to be. They are "little bears," related, in a manner, to Panda bears, and we had a mama coon separated from her baby and we were going to go out there and open the trap to let her out. That means our hands would be inches away from this coon, and we had no idea what she would do once she got out. The baby had waddled up the hill and into the bushes as soon as we came out the back door. My husband opened the trap door while I held a long walking stick just in case. At first she was not aware that the door was open, since she was more concerned with keeping her face toward us, but she soon found her way out and took off likity-split. She went in a slightly different direction than her baby, but I'm sure that they very soon found each other and are now well on their way to their home for their daily nap.

I guess I'll have to rely more on strategically placed motion detectors to protect my chickens.

A Good Point of View

I recommend to your attention Fr. John Moses' blog "The Best Seats in the House."

The Guardian

This morning I took some bits of apple core up to my ever decreasing little flock of chickens. They love fruit of all kinds, so this was a treat for them. To my call of "chick chick chick, here chick chick chick" my few hens and their rooster came running through the pines sounding like a herd of elephants coming through the dry, rustling leaves. As I threw the bits of apple to them, the rooster made little calling noises to his hens, showing them where the food was. The hens, selfish gluttons that they are, fell all over themselves to see who could get the most, even stealing from their sisters. (Hens are such notoriously dumb clucks.) I have seen my roosters behave this way before over the decade I've had chickens. (My, but I've had so many over the years, and I remember them all!) The rooster will first call his hens to the food, then he will pick up and drop several pieces to show his hens where and what it is, clucking and calling all the while. Then he will step back and let them all eat while he stands so tall and proud and watches for danger. He always keeps one eye on me, too, even though he knows I'm the one who brings the food. If there is enough, he will eat when the hens are finished, otherwise he doesn't eat.

I know I'm just an old lady out of her time, but I see in this rooster behavior a foggy reflection of how God our Father calls us to nourishment then steps back to guard and watch while we feed on what He has brought.

When difficulties, hardships, and heartaches come to us in this life, it is good to stop and think that there is still nourishment for us; that there is One Who is always there lovingly and carefully watching and guarding and protecting us, even though we are too busy and perhaps too heartbroken to see it.