I watched a
TED Talk about something that is not often measured. Altruism on a global scale. The
researcher who spoke talked about the process of quantifying how countries reach outside of their own borders to serve other nations. My mind drifted to how anyone would even go about it... counting relief efforts? Tracking donations after a natural disaster? Sharing scientific or medical discoveries? Offering education to foreign students? Recycling programs that spread resources to poorer continents?
Then my thoughts migrated to marriage. Although I am not about
to apply for a grant to find out the Marriage Altruism Index, I can look around. One couple I know volunteered on a sustainable organic farm. Another created spiritual growth classes and shared their workbooks generously. There is a man who uses his landscape business to beautify public spaces, and his wife handles the books. Another couple invest their skills in the scouting program, impacting many more kids than their own. Another couple made a presentation recently in which they shared the
stage and demonstrated their ability to work together. I went to a wedding last week in which the couple serenaded the entire congregation. There was another wedding the same weekend where the couple provided a ferris wheel for the enjoyment of their guests. The little girl who told me rode it 27 times.
All of the couples who participate in the mentoring program are acting from altruism. They offer their time and foot the bill for coffee so that younger couples
might feel less alone. If mentoring were as ubiquitous as recycling bins, I bet divorce rates would sink like a stone.
