Proper Motivation

I want to be a better human being. Better to myself, to my friends and family, to strangers and people around the world who are suffering, to the environment - I just want to be better over all, to be good.

If I think about it, I'm motivated by a number of different things:

1) Guilt. As a college-educated American, I have a lot going for me in comparison to say, anyone in Burma, or Darfur, or anyone else who doesn't enjoy my comfortable pillowtop mattress and non-backbreaking office job. I think about this more often than a lot of people (which is to say, more often than a fleeting thought of "oh that's too bad" when images of utter inhumanity are glossed over with a flashy graphic on the evening news) and it kind of eats away at me.

2) Praise. I admit it: I'm a praise whore. I love doing nice things for people because I like to be thanked and noticed and appreciated for my efforts. (A blog is helpful in this endeavor.)

3) Atheism. It's true - I have no faith in god, religion, unicorns or leprechauns. It annoys me that I have to point out that just because I'm not religious, doesn't mean I don't care about anything. In fact, the opposite is true. With no god and no heaven and no possibility of an afterlife filled with cocoa puffs and bubble baths and choirs of angels, the only thing that matters is right now.

That's just what makes me want to be a good human. I'd like it if everyone believed the same things as me, but duh - that's not going to happen. So really whatever your motivation is, seek it out and run with it. If you want to take in a dozen foster kids because of something in the Bible, please do it. Next week, I'll try to figure out what typically holds me back. My anti-motivators, if you will.