I've spent the past weeks researching my senior project, defining questions and determining research subjects I can interview. I'm dreadfully behind on the whole process, but I do think I have a better idea of why I'm doing the project, although the how and when might remain to be seen. (I'm working, I promise.)
The most interesting research I've been doing comes simply from discussing the idea of compassion and altruism with my peers. The concept of altruism is so broad that the answers I've been getting to some of my fundamental questions have varied significantly. I'm still nervous about finding the perfect interview subjects, but I'm more and more convinced that the topic is worth exploring.
What will I discover in the process? I'm not sure. Most of the answers I find will probably be very surface level ... at least at first. After all, I'm wrestling with a topic people have been baffled by for centuries. Are people good? Does faith influence actions? Is it possible to be selfless? Leave it to me to choose a complicated research project with very few concrete conclusions. :)
Still, I'm passionate about doing this research because I want to know that there's good in the world. So much of what I know about what surrounds me is connected with overwhelming, seemingly unsolvable problems. As a 21 year old idealist, then, I want to know that there's hope for things to be better ... that people can act in a way that helps, instead of harms, each other.
I want to dedicate my life to discovering these stories of hope, so this project is the start of one of the themes of my future. I don't think the job will pay well (if at all), but I'm willing to risk it. Call me a pacifist, call me a Bible-thumper, call me naive.
I'm probably all of those things. But I'm also convinced that everywhere, no matter the circumstances, there is selflessness, there is compassion. Life is hard and often unrewarding, but it's also good. I choose to believe that, no matter what evidence piles up that tells me otherwise.
It's all a matter of finding stories of hope.
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