What's the point of going out of your way in order to do the right thing in a world that doesn't give a damn?

Good faith. #strong.

@Umile18: thank you.

@BlueDiver: That may be true, but you have no control over what others do or the legacy they leave. You only have control over YOUR choices and the legacy YOU leave.

I guess that I've always had this big part of me that craves something bigger - I want my actions and my efforts to be part of a larger mission to heal the world. I want them to play a small but meaningful role in the bigger picture. Without that, I lose a lot of motivation. Without that, the only person I have left to serve is me, and I'll never feel completely comfortable serving anyone but other people.

@BlueDiver: So...if I understand you correctly, you want to be the one who makes the million dollar shot in a playoff game, right? But don't you see, whoever makes that shot, couldn't do it if everyone else on the team sits down and doesn't play their position just because they don't get to make the winning goal. Each one of those players is a star when they play THEIR part and do it well. Without them, that goal would never be made. Realize that what you do in your little corner of the world IS a part of something bigger. You can be a helper and healer to even one person and change their world, rather than deciding that if you can't do it all, you'd rather do nothing. That's where the chain reaction starts...that person you help can make a difference too, even if it's to only one, and so on...if everyone does what they can, as often as they can, with whoever they can, they HAVE made a huge difference. THAT is the motivation. Often you'll see that people that live like that, they're the ones who are talked about forever, because they made such a difference. The power of one....

And what if you didn't believe in God or an afterlife, or any other source of deep faith - would you still have a reason to do the right thing?

@BlueDiver: Does it not feel good? 😊

Do you feel guilty when you don't?

Don't think of what others think.

Don't think of how hard it is.

and just do it.

But only if you want to. 😊

It pretty much never feels good, no. And if anything, I feel guilty for doing the right thing more often than I feel guilty for doing the wrong thing. I'm a humanist - I only care about matters of ethics and religion and spirituality insofar as they directly effect the lives of human beings, both myself and others, so the only way for me to want to do the right thing is if I have a reason - a reason based on it actually helping myself and/or others to an extent that makes any actual difference.

My dad wanted to be dependent on me, and my mom wanted me to be a tool with no will of my own. A large percentage of "doing the right thing" falls outside of the narrow lines that fulfilled the roles that they wanted me to play.

So you feel like a machine?

No, and I'm not sure where you got that from. Maybe you're projecting? I disowned my parents a long time ago, and stepped outside of the roles that they wanted me to play. My feelings and experiences may be dulled, but no more than a soldier's are after they come back from war.

Simple but true.