Really do people...

[yeawutever]

Just start getting involve with helping, the community, congress or whatsoever in fighting for crimes only when someone bad happens to their kids or other beloved member???

 

Take for example the Amber alert case that was created. The girl's parents only got involved in the missing kids reporting saga just because their daughter got kidnapped and murdered.

 

So ok isn't that kinda of hypocritical and phony?? They are only doing it just for their dead daughter, for their own benefit, not because they actually care about missing kids.

 

So it really takes someone bad to happened to you or someone else to take actions?? Hypocritical don't you think??

 

I bet if their daughter or if Jimmy Reiss were still alive they wouldn't be getting so worked out about missing kids nor helping other parents.... It's not like there are actually real ones that do it from the heart because they always care about it and not just because of terrible experience. I'm talking about real reason, because they always wanted to...

 

No offense but if you're one of those people that only takes action after someone bad happens to you or someone else, I'm not impressed. You never care about it before.

[metrogirl]

I think it's a way to help the family heal. Doing something productive and seeing positive results from it, I would think helps with feeling more at peace with their loss and hopefully preventing another tragic loss such as the one they experienced.

[yeawutever]

Exactly, helping them with their loss, their own benefit. The way I see this, ok for example: I don't like children and let's say something happens to my little brother and then all of the sudden I start getting involved with kids like crazy... Now that would be hypocritical.

 

But ok, whatever works for them. Yes does prevents another loss sometimes...

[gsxr104]

I think that when they do suffer a loss, they feel they don't want another set of parents going through what they did. So they become proactive advocates and sometimes even create a whole new firm, agency or service. Take John Walsh for instance. I think what he hasa created as a result of his son Adam, has helped put many fugitives behind bars. Some of which could have had a direct impact on your neighborhood.

[ponyboy]

Thats life though, people dont care about certain issues unless it effects them directly.

[SapphireNoir10]

Well you often dont think too much about stuff until they affect you. They arent doing it for personal gain if their child has already been abducted/murdered. There is nothing more painful than losing a child, so to get up and say 'Hang on I want to stop this from happening to someone else' Is admirable. I dont see how thats hypocritical.

 

I didnt really think about cancer or get involved in cancer charities until a close family member got it.

 

Edit: Also, it raises your own awareness. We never realised how underfunded pancreatic cancer was until we experienced it and now we all donate ten pounds a month, so, hopefull lives will be helped.

[BellaDonna]

Take for example the Amber alert case that was created. The girl's parents only got involved in the missing kids reporting saga just because their daughter got kidnapped and murdered.

 

 

No offense but if you're one of those people that only takes action after someone bad happens to you or someone else, I'm not impressed. You never care about it before.

 

A relative of mine was struck and killed by a motorist while riding his bicycle. I never got involved in "Bicycle Safety" or "Share the Road"campaigns until he was killed.

 

It doesn't make sense that you assume the worst in people just because personal tragedy inspires them to take action on an issue they may not have thought about before. You are assuming it is only for personal gain- but is there ever really a form of true altruism? People are going to take actions on issues that are meaninful to their lives and experience.

 

For my own purposes I'm not really concerned with whether or not I "impress" others. I do it to honor my relative with the hopes of preventing another tragic, unneccessary death for another bicyclist.

[Crazyaboutdogs]

People live their lives and have other priorities in their lives. They may do good deeds in other ways and get involved in other worthwhile causes. Then when something hits close to home their priority shifts to this new cause. It doesn't mean they were cold, apathetic people beforehand, you don't really know them, their life story and what causes they promoted before this one. If Michael J Fox did not have Parkinson's disease do you think he would be an advocate for research into the disease...probably not..but he might be involved in some other good causes. Many people get involved in various good causes because of personal experience which gave them more awareness. There is nothing wrong or selfish about it..the end result is that good things come out of it for others.

[MoTay]

There are lots of advocacy organizations out there, each of which is always looking for a way to get "front of mind" presence with the public. When a particularly tragic event occurs, it is natural for those groups and the victims to find each other and use the tragedy to dramatize their cause.

[shes2smart]

It doesn't make sense that you assume the worst in people just because personal tragedy inspires them to take action on an issue they may not have thought about before. You are assuming it is only for personal gain- but is there ever really a form of true altruism? People are going to take actions on issues that are meaninful to their lives and experience.

 

Agreed. You are assuming the worst of people which gives you a very cynical outlook on the world, ultimately harming yourself more than anyone else.

 

How do you think people come to care about anything? Something happens that MAKES them care because it touches a nerve for them. That "something" isn't always a positive/good event....more likely it's something negative/painful.

 

Would you rather they have something happen - a child killed by a drunk driver, for example - and just go about as if nothing happened? 'Cause, frankly, I'd find that more disturbing than seeing someone become involved with or start an organization like M.A.D.D. after losing a child to a drunk driver.

 

No matter what we do in life something first has to motivate us to get our asses off the couch and take action. We are all creatures who gravitate toward the comfortable and familiar. We tend not to do things differently until we reach a maximum point of discomfort.

 

You assume they're doing things to illicit a response from or "impress" you (or others). Most of the time, I think it's more a case of trying to make sense of their own lives and the events that have happened to them. They're trying to find a way to ease their own pain, in essence, and that has nothing to do with me or you or anyone else.

[EQD]

Exactly, helping them with their loss, their own benefit. The way I see this, ok for example: I don't like children and let's say something happens to my little brother and then all of the sudden I start getting involved with kids like crazy... Now that would be hypocritical.

 

But ok, whatever works for them. Yes does prevents another loss sometimes...

 

sometimes people arent fully aware that there is a need for action until it affects them in some way.

John Walsh's son was murdered. There is no bringing his boy back, but if it wasnt for John then Americas Most Wanted would have never been created and thousands of dangerous criminals would have never been captured.

 

The awareness and advancements that he's pioneered so that OTHER parents wont have to go through what he did, and so that familys of victims of violent crimes wont go unavenged... and so thousands of innocent people wont be preyed upon..

well call it 'hypocritical' but i call it amazing and inspiring and wonderful that someone could take a tragedy like the loss of a child and turn it into a massive movement that ends up saving thousands of lives.

 

 

Every action can be viewed as selfish through the right(or wrong) glasses.

 

 

on another note my SO happens to be one of those people who were never victimized or whathaveyou and he has a strong core and interest in helping children in need and contributing to the community.

So yes, some people are naturally oriented that way, some become that way. And some are influenced by both.

[Seraphim]

Very thoughtful post.