Last Friday night, I headed to my parent’s house for my
weekly visit. After a delicious meal of taco goodness, the rents and I sat down
to watch the news. We tuned in to watch a story on the Governor General handing
out numerous medals of bravery to honor ordinary Canadians who had put
themselves at risk of injury or death in an attempt to help someone in need. This
(as the news often does) fueled a debate in the living room.
“Dad” I asked, “would you accept an award for helping
someone in need?”
“I don’t think I would” he responded. “I don’t think I
should be given recognition for something I’m supposed to do, to help someone.”
Of course, this response raises another intellectual query.
Are we supposed to help someone? Is it our responsibility? (For those of you
who know me and/or have read this blog, I think you know my obvious answer to
those questions).
Then my mom said, “of course I would hope I would help
someone in a situation where they were in danger and in need of support. But, let’s
say someone was in trouble in deep water; of which I have a great fear. To be
honest, I don’t know what I would do. Would I be paralyzed by fear?”
“Well, I hope you wouldn’t be judged for not helping in a
situation like that, where your capabilities couldn’t warrant helping the
person” my dad responded. “But for someone who could help, who did have the
ability to assist that person, why should they receive a medal? Why should they
receive recognition when they thought they could/should help?” he added.
“Well, I can’t
imagine these people are acting in such a way to receive a medal or
recognition” my mom responded. “People often just react in the moment. So, if
someone thought a person deserved recognition for their bravery, why shouldn’t
they accept the award? Especially if they acted when no one else did? I think I
would accept it” she stated.
After listening to the debate, my first thought was this:
“Well, I think that
by awarding people for acts of compassion or kindness, we are telling society
that these actions are ‘extraordinary.’ That helping someone in need is not
normal. I think that’s the wrong message to send; the idea that it’s only
‘special’ people that do these acts. When frankly, we are all capable and
should all be willing to step up to the plate when people are in danger or in need
of support.”
But, then again, perhaps these awards demonstrate to society
that we can also change; that if ordinary people are capable of such actions,
perhaps I am too. I agree people’s stories need to be told. I get inspired by
peoples sacrifices; by their willingness to go beyond places I have gone. But do
these awards cause people to act?
An interesting debate to say the least. Do we award acts of
compassion, or ‘bravery?’ Or, should society realize that helping people
shouldn’t be looked at like a choice? That awarding people for those acts
creates a sense that compassion isn’t a part of humanities framework. What are your thoughts?
3 comments:
An interesting dilemma. While as a society we perhaps should support each other even in extraordinary situations,but often the social infra-structure penalizes acts of kindness and stepping out beyond social comfort zones. Perhaps the best answer can be a compromise of sorts. Recognize these acts publicly to acknowledge their acceptability to a population who might otherwise shy away from such acts at some future time, while accepting the awards in humility and perhaps a subtitle or caption focusing on choice in service to all mankind. What better way to award, teach and learn while being true our humble roots of service to our fellows.
A very interesting question you pose here.
I do agree with your argument that the delivery of these awards seems to be communicating that the actions and people awarded are extraordinary rather than expectations of living in a compassionate society. On the other hand I’m almost certain that the people that receive the awards didn’t act knowing that there would be recognition of some sort. I have to believe that the people receiving the awards acted out of compassion and recognize, as you do, that our society needs to care more about the people in it.
As you hint at, I think it can easily be argued that the delivery of the medals is bringing to light the compassionate acts that happen every day in society and that the stories may in fact encourage people to reflect on them and change their own thinking. I believe that if these awards didn’t exist the compassionate stories behind them might never be told to greater society. So while we may think that it’s being communicated that these folks are extraordinary the hidden agenda may in fact be in the story-telling itself to motivate compassion in others.
Thanks again for sharing another thought-provoking blog!
What? I love trophies.
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