I had the great pleasure to host and moderate an event this week where altruism was put in the center of the evening.
After sad stories on how young children between 10 and 20 years old sometimes struggle with the challenges of life and the remarkable work Ingrid De Jonghe is doing for them at TEJO, (open houses that provide care for them) I had a talk with her and Caroline Pauwels, Rector of the VUB.
I was very touched on the vision of both ladies on which I agree completely: we need to communicate better with each other and with our children. As parents, as friends, as teachers...simply as humans. We also need to dare to really "see" the face of the people, Artificial Intelligence is very good, but it may not be used to de-humanize people.
Helping others touches you in your heart., so dare to be sensible for the problems around you and give that helping hand which is very often that listening ear.
The time to talk. Time is the most precious gift you can give anyone.
A lot of money goes into philanthropy, however we must try to make sure that the donations and the money goes to projects that really matter and make a change in today's society.
A challenge, as philanthropy is actually a very big industry...
Effective altruism seeks to change that by providing incentives for charities to demonstrate their effectiveness.
Altruism is the wish to benefit others. So if you want to do good , obviously, you have to do it in the wisest way and with the largest impact possible. Carefully ‘planned” altruism has value, as it applies reason, rationality and the wisdom of discernment.
I am convinced that a donation on GINGO for the project to start a TEJO house in Leuven will be a lot of value, as I am sure that the volunteers will be able to save a lot of young lives and will bring a lot of youngsters back on track to have a fantastic life.
