To Give or Not to Give

When was the last time you did something completely unselfishly? There is a school of thought that says people never act without selfish motivation, somewhere, somehow you reap a benefit from it. I can live with feeling good about yourself if you act unselfishly. I can live with liking that others like you more if you're unselfish. What I can't live with is not being able to give unless there is some tangible, immediate reward. 


I've been thinking about selflessness because a colleague recently died.  In the 20 years I've known her I've watched her get involved with project after project, float idea after idea. Some related to her formal job, most did not. It didn't matter. She knew no borders and took most refusals as "maybe." In all that time, I never saw her do something to directly benefit herself. She worked to advance women. She worked to help general staff have more opportunities. She worked to create more positive, empowering workplaces. She worked for the general good. She didn't work for Karen. If she benefited it was indirectly and certainly not in any financial or political way. She wasn't made supervisor or special advisor. She was always just Karen working for others.  


Contrast that to what has happened in Michigan. Michigan has what is called an Emergency Manager provision. Under certain circumstances the governor can appoint an emergency manager to run a city or school district. Within the last couple of years, Michigan's governor has appointed emergency managers to a number of cities. These managers have then fired elected officials, in essence effectively negating the will of the voters. In order to counter what is seen as a usurping of their rights, voters distributed petitions to get the issue put on the ballot. When the petitions were submitted to officials, they were rejected due to a technicality over font size. The vote to reject the petitions was along strictly party lines. Those who voted "no" were the party of the governor who appointed the managers.


One could argue this is politics and loyalty is expected and rewarded. But that is my point. Politicians are elected to represent us the voters. Their loyalty should be to us, the voters. No one knows the political affiliation of the people who signed those petitions. The only thing anyone knows is that over 200,000 voters in the state of Michigan want an opportunity to vote on the issue. The officials who denied the voters that opportunity have forgotten they are there for us, not them. They have forgotten that when we seek to serve we do it not for ourselves, but for the good of others. We do it because there is some higher good we seek, whether we benefit from it or not. Karen knew that. It's too bad so many of us don't.