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You’re entirely missing the value of volunteering. If you don’t take joy, pride, humility, and reward in the feeling of genuinely doing good work for entirely

• slothtrop 5y ago
  You could tell me that washing dishes for a crowd would cure cancer and it would not fill me with joy, pride, humility or reward. That doesn't mean I never find reward in helping others in-person or otherwise, and in some instances there's a sense of moral duty. Ultimately most people favor volunteer work that suits them, even if they don't admit it. An easy way to confirm this is that there are usually more effective ways to be charitable qua saving lives than chosen avenues; that doesn't mean it isn't meaningful, but there is a selfish element. I would also consider those aforementioned emotions you listed as personal benefit. Those aren't elicited through mere rationalization, but human contact, which releases Oxytocin. They scale not with real-world impact (which can feel too abstracted) but social contact. That's why charities struggle.