Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Important Decisions

I'm thinking of buying an ethically made hoodie to replace my Mary's one because I don't like the fact it's made by Fruit of the Loom who I recently discovered to be unethically making their clothing in Mexico. And I was thinking the other day what it is that pushes us to make decisions. Of course the answer is 'many things'. Decisions are made by things that interest us, people who inspire us, events that influence us (these aren't all deliberately beginning with 'i'!) and of course our beliefs, passions and personalities. The thing is though, that all these things are selfish. We chose a film to watch because we like it, we pick out clothes because we like them, we eat food because we like it, we go on holiday to a certain country because we want to go there. In an ordinary day, I wonder just how many decisions, even down to the tiniest little thing, are made totally selflessly. How many times can you say "I did that completely for someone else, there was nothing in it for, and in fact I actually lost out because of it".
Of course philosophers have argues over the centuries whether it is even possible to do something completely selflessly and whether we are actually inherently selfish beings. But this is something that I think about alot. I once read a reccommendation, to do at least one thing every day for someone that they don't know about, it's teaching a lesson in humility because most of the things we do for other people are in reality done with at least a partial aim for acclamation.
Everyone knows that I get all passionate and excited by Fairtrade and ethical trading, I can't help it, it's something that interests, inspires and influences me and of course I struggle to understand why people wouldn't be passionate about it. But of course we're all different people and we all get moved by different things. The thing is, I think we all need lessons in selfless acts, because, seriously, how difficult is it just to work out what your actions do to someone else, even and perhaps especially if you will never meet that person.

I am sorry if this comes across as judgmental or 'fairtrade-bashing', two things I have been acused of doing in the past, and two things I desparetely don't want to be. I just felt that I needed to be straightforward and say what I think. I would never judge anyone else on their decisions, that really isn't my place. But I want people to know what moves me to make my decisions. That, truely and honestly is the only aim of this blog.

6 comments:

Tim aka 'pigeon boy' said...

And as soon as you do something selfless you feel good about it, hence making it no longer selfless. The quest for selflessness surely is a selfish act in itself, as being selfless would be to ease your conscience. Hrmm i'm not sure we can ever do anything truly selflessly, instead i think i would try and be 'outward looking' not pretending to be doing what i do selflessly, but with an attitude that looks at the effect of my actions on others, not just on me. It's not quite selfless...but it's not THAT far off...interesting blog! I shall be more than happy for you to practise your selflessness when around me! lol

Katita said...

hhmmm good try! but yeah i agree with you that the search for selflessness is selfish in itself. interesting comment.

Ffi said...

I have often thought of the same issue kat. there is that episode of friends where pheobe bets....one of the others, monica i think that there is no such thing as a selfless act. I have to agree with tim here, in my experiance (of myself) we do nothing without at least the thought entering in "Oh that made me feel good!"
I agree tim it is much better to view our actions from the effects they will have on others. So by buying fairtrade, we are looking at the conscequences of our product selection and not just "oh but Fruit of the Loom is cheaper!" This is hard to do especially when a broke student, its something that I also don't do. But surely, not just cos I am a christian but also as human I should consider the effects my choices have. Thanks kat you have really challenged me with this.
xxx

Emmie-lou said...

It was joey...not monica that phoebe bet!! I thought about that when I read kats post too!

Helen said...

No, Phoebe bet Joey didnt she> ? Anyway...

Nicola said...

Hey Kat! I've just been catching up on what's going in on in katita world! lol This is a really cool blog! It's made me realise what I've been doing! I have for a long time been quite passionate about fair trade as well and support the make trade fair campaign, partly by wearing a fair trade t-shirt with the name on! I used to refuse to go into gap because I had watched a documentary years ago which I will never forget which exposed the exploitation of honest factory workers in places like cambodia went through. I have to admit that I recently bought some things from gap and it didn't really enter into my mind at the time, buying these clothes to me is like supporting the exploitation they practice, I was distracted by the fact that they were cheap, actually fitted me! and looked nice! Not much of an excuse I know. Thanks kat you reminded me of something that is important to me!
Lots of love
Nic
xxx