Category: Solidarity
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From lunatic to everyday hero
How we changed our minds about altruistic organ donors Zell first learned about it in the Wall Street Journal. Shane read a Vox article. Jan heard someone being interviewed on the radio. Zell, Shane and Jan are all nondirected kidney donors – people who gave a kidney to a stranger, having first discovered that this…
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Do-gooders: disliked – and attempting a comeback
Jacinda Ardern, the former New Zealand prime minister, calls herself a “do-gooder”. It’s an unusual choice: the term is mostly an insult, and she was apparently mocked at school for her do-gooding. Ardern can perhaps pull it off – she was an unconventional PM, and for years has been arguing that kindness can co-exist with…
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When someone’s struggling, ask them to help *you*
When he meets someone who’s struggling, Maff Potts relies on six words. “Could you do me a favour?” It’s counter-intuitive, but it’s never failed him, he says, even in extreme circumstances. Someone may be distraught, aggressive, or feeling utterly desperate. Instead of immediately trying to fix the problem, ask them for help. Can they offer…
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Why super-altruists will give up a kidney
Would you give up a kidney to save the life of an anonymous stranger? Me neither. (I’m too squeamish even to donate blood.) But some people would. In fact, nearly 1,000 people in the UK have given up theirs, not because they’ve been moved to act by an individual’s appeal for help, but as “non-directed…
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Gifts: delight, obligation, poison?
Gifts are heart-warming. It feels good to be able to give something of value to someone we care about, and it feels good to receive something unexpected that signals someone has thought of us. Or… maybe not. It can also feel stressful when you’re under pressure to find the right gift. It’s awkward when you’ve…
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Advice of idiots
When someone you love is upset, ask one question before you do anything, suggests New York Times writer Jancee Dunn. She quotes her sister, a teacher of kids with special needs. When a child is emotionally overwhelmed by something, this teacher and her colleagues will ask: “Do you want to be helped, heard or hugged?”…
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Despair as a teddy bear
Bad things seem to pile up: the slow grind of dishonest politics, the sharp horror of war, the unfathomable end of life on earth barely registering on our front pages. You want to make the world a little bit better, but amid all of this, is there any point? Much has been written already about…
How can we help 