Altruism

al·tru·ism (ltr-zm)
n.

1. Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.
2. Zoology. Instinctive cooperative behavior that is detrimental to the individual but contributes to the survival of the species.

I received a very unexpected email from what I consider to be a rather unique individual. I had to read the email twice to be sure of what I read. Even then I was taken aback. So, what do I do when I want to think? I sleep... So here I am, rested and dumbfounded. Now, I'm not so young, or not so old, I'm 32 (just recently). I have some rather conservative and liberal views on people. And one of those views is that foster parents are special, very special. All children are inherently good and should be loved. The person I ran across is a foster parent. A single foster parent of a 13 month old baby, and they are 27 no less! Does that fit the model of a foster parent? What would possibly posses such a young person to show so much altruism? Usually altruism such as this manifests itself in older generations. This is quite unique, infact, singularly unique in my life. And it still blows me away after spending so much time thinking, ney, contemplating the message.

I just had to write about it and I hope that the sender reads this entry. People such as the sender are precisely the kind of person that I want to surround myself with.

I am a very binary personality when it comes to friends and associates. I either like you because you bring something "meaningful" to my life. Something positive. It doesn't have to be big, grand, expensive, anything like that. Just a person who adds quality to my life. Or, I don't really have anything to do with you. If you do not bring anything positive, rather you bring negativity to my life then I have no use for you. I would rather focus that energy on someone who does bring something to my life.

And this 27 year old is precisely the model of character and integrity that I seek to be in my life, no matter how small or large. This is someone who I can learn from.