On Christmas Eve this year, I witnessed something that I've seen occur many times, but never really thought about in-depth.
Babies. Two year olds that can't even talk yet. Running around, picking things up off of the table, and then holding them out to someone. As though they're saying, "Here. Take this. I have no idea what it is, but you can have it." People's cell phones, lipglosses, etc. It's the same routine. Pick it up, give it to someone.
My 2 year old baby cousin took two cookies off of the table and shoved the first one in her mouth excitedly. My aunt Theresa leaned over her, saying, "Ooh! Whats that you got there?!" And, like clockwork, the baby-- with her neck straining at a 90 degree angle in order to look at my aunt-- fully extended her arm and gave my aunt the other cookie.
Now, the baby obviously didn't think she was getting a reward for giving. After all, the reward in itself was the cookie. And she gave her other one away.
Babies know how to share without someone ever teaching them. I'm talking about 1 year olds that can't think a logical thought. Many would agree that we, as humans, have some work to do in the "selfish" department; so where does this baby's inborn urge to GIVE come from?
Recent biological research has called it the "selflessness gene." This New York Times article published last month explains it thoroughly:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01human.html?_r=2
According to this article, when infants 18 months old see an unrelated adult who needs assistance, they will immediately help. Developmental psychologist Dr. Tomasello, who recently published a book called Why We Cooperate, quoted that, "Infants will help with information, as well as in practical ways. From the age of 12 months they will point at objects that an adult pretends to have lost. Chimpanzees, by contrast, never point at things for each other, and when they point for people, it seems to be as a command to go fetch something rather than to share information."
Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi also discusses the matter of human selfish/selflessness in his blog. In contrast, Selfishness plays a part in our make-up too. Kevin quoted a previous researcher, saying "that's why we have moral dilemmas. Because we are both selfish and altruistic at the same time.”
The NY times article gives me hope. To fully harness our "selflessness gene" lies within our own hands. It's why we feel good about donating to charities. It's why we feel warm around the holidays, after we've given to others. And it's why we feel profound and new when we witness someone else helping a stranger. If only everyone could go back to their innate roots, perhaps the world would be a bit brighter.
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