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?

Outside of self-image, hardly anyone makes any real effort to do the right thing - not when it's inconvenient or hard. The few people who actually put in real effort to do the right thing (and haven't had that effort beaten out of them by the world's ugly and unsupportive reactions to such aberrant behavior) are such utter outliers that their efforts rarely amount to anything. And on the rare occasions where their efforts actually accomplish something - it just ends up being a briefly lit match in the dark. Noticeable and seemingly important, sometimes even heartwarming or holy. And yet, what it amounts to is complete pointlessness in the bigger picture. I hate it so much, so I honestly want to know. I'm desperate to know - what reason can you come up with for doing the right thing anyway?

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SW-User

It's all only "pointless in the bigger picture" that you see with human eyes, here and now. The real bigger picture extends far beyond what man can ever see, and therefore, so does the reason to do what's right. However, assuming one doesn't believe that, there's still the reason here and now, and that is that evil and hatred will devour and enslave you. It will blind you and use you as a tool for its own gain...destroying everyone and everything in its path. Or, you can choose love and doing what is right. It'll definitely cost you, you'll feel the burn over and over again, BUT, when you look in the rearview mirror at what you've left behind, all those single matches lit, they went out and lit other matches, and those people lit others and so on. What began as a single spark or flame is now your legacy of light. Individuals won't see it, but you will know it's there. That's what truly matters.

BlueDiver · 36-40, M

I think that the part about hatred devouring you is spot on - that's why I chose curiosi's answer as the best answer.

But the problem with the rest is that darkness spreads and multiplies just as readily as light does. And there's a hell of a lot more of it than there are matches. There are a lot more bad people spreading darkness than there are good people lighting matches, and the middle-ground decent masses are so blind to the darkness and apathetic to the light that they end up helping and serving it more often than they help the people trying to do the right thing.

SW-User

@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.

BlueDiver · 36-40, M

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.

SW-User

@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....