cautiously optimistic

The other night (via one of my volunteer positions) I came across a 17-year-old girl who had been the victim of a robbery. She was home alone when a man broke into her home and stole several expensive items from the family home.

By the time I spoke to this girl she'd gone through the fear, shock, and vulnerability that always accompanies such an incredible violation. I admired how quickly she was ready to kick that low-life burglar's ass. Not only did he rob the house of the tv, dvd player, and other valuables, the loser stole a computer this young girl had worked many hours for (at minimum wage). She hated that he could view not only hundreds of priceless photos but also her heartfelt electronic journal on the laptop. To her, the thought of this was even more painful than his lingering presence in her home.

Being careful that her older brother and parents would not hear her, she confided in me. As tearful as she was, she was glad that the robbery had happened to her and not any other member of her family. She went on to explain how each one of her family members would have been broken by the ordeal but that she was the toughest one--she could take it. I thought to myself that each of her family members probably wished they had been the one home alone, ordered to lie on the floor and listen to a thief strip their nest.

Academics debate whether humans are altruistic or whether noble actions are ultimately self-serving. I think this drive to protect our loved ones, to want to take the fear and pain in their place, cannot be accounted for by philosophy or explained away by evolutionary psychology. I'm not often optimistic about human nature, but I think that almost every one of us would take a tremendous amount of hardship so that someone we loved wouldn't have to.