“When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your giving may be secret. Your Heavenly Father who sees in secret will repay you.” Matthews 6:4
The world is full of good people. That’s what we think every time we scroll past a wholesome video of an animal being rescued or a generous person donating to the needy, but do we ever stop to wonder if what would be different if we took away the camera? Would they do a good deed at all?
We live in the age of social media. Everyone prefers to see different content. However, one style of content that seems to bring together individuals of different tastes are heartwarming videos. Even the cruelest of people can’t help but press the ‘like’ button on videos of generous deeds being done. It was always nice to see that there is good in the world. Unfortunately, some people take advantage of their viewers.
These people only do generous things whilst being filmed. They whip out their cameras and film themselves helping others out for their fifteen minutes of fame. Oftentimes, the people they help genuinely need this kind of support. They’re too grateful to question being filmed. Only the cruelest of individuals would exploit the needy, right? Sadly, there are more of these immoral people than we think.
The worst part is that we don’t know the difference between exploiters and generous people. Social media is blurring the line between the two. A lot of these ‘influencers’ are hailed as saviors and a blind eye is turned towards their wrongdoings.
There is nothing wrong with recording yourself if the deed you are doing is truthful, right? The thing is, the purpose of good deeds is that they are meant to be done without anyone watching. They are an act of helping others to better society without any selfish intentions. Of course, it is human nature to want to receive some form of accolade when something good is done, but this recognition wipes the purpose of these deeds. We have to strive to realize that when you boast about what you have done, it makes the action ingenuine. This is why I feel that we should keep endeavors, however helpful, off cameras.
The people uploading these videos do not have to be inherently bad people. Think about young children getting stickers for doing a good job. After receiving this reward, they want to show it off to all their friends. It is the same for adults who have done a good deed. They want to show everyone just how virtuous of a person they are. However, they have to remember, once received, the ‘sticker’ is still theirs.
Your good deed is yours. If you have chosen to step up and take action to help someone, you have done it for yourself. Some stories of heroes get told, and some stories are supposed to stay with the hero.
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