Altruism: noun. The belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.
Jez Humble, 韩捷 tweeted. He said:
I was also adopted. I agree 100% with what Kelly says in this thread. The decision to have an abortion is an individual one that nobody else has the right to interfere in, whatever their personal beliefs. Anything else is misogyny. https://t.co/XVXhrKdUXy
— Jez Humble (@jezhumble) July 23, 2020
I respect Jez and follow his tweets. This one tweet is not that much special, it fits his persona of supporting feminism.
Feminism: noun. The advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.
His wife Rani is running a project for vulnerable women in the Bay Area. You may consider supporting her project.
That’s just a background. But what triggers me to write this down is because he talked about something very personal. He said he was adopted, which I never know. I thought all the kids in the first world is spoiled in love and everything is perfect. I’m not joking about adoption is not perfect. Not at all, I think that’s ultimate altruism in humanity, that’s morally brilliant.
I’m not good at writing. Because I always lose focus and miss my point. I should be better at editing that. But let me use that as an excuse for now.
Why do I think his support of Women’s right to abortion is great altruism here? Because as someone who is been adopted, there’s a chance that their biology mother had a hard time choosing abortion in the first place. I know there’s a big chance their biology parents well decide to give birth to this child. But we all learned that the world is not perfect, due to religion, ideology, social taboo, etc. an accidental pregnancy may leave no choice for a mother. And there’s an ideological divide that someone thinks the mother can’t stop the pregnancy even at a relatively early stage (which I can’t argue because I’m not a medical expert). But most people believe we have ownership and responsibility to take care of our physical and mental health. So there might be conflict. This topic is controversial. Let’s put that aside. But if a person who is adopted who supports his/her mother stops the pregnancy at her will, then he/she may eliminate the existence of his being. That’s a fictional thought because that’s not logically sound, you can’t change history by doing that. But I like this as a thinking tool, if we can change history by traveling in time, will you agree with your parents to stop your existence? I will hesitate, I will put some of my points later. But in Jez’s tweet, what I can see is he have a braveness to support his maker (mother) in case she wants to stop her pregnancy. That’s an altruism act I appreciate it, I collect those gems when I’m alive.
D’you know what I mean
by Oasis
I met my maker I made him cry, and on my shoulder, he asked me why
His people won’t fly through the storm
I said hey listen up man
They don’t even know you’re born
I don’t why. But this chapter of lyric comes to my mind when I think about Jez’s altruism. I must say I don’t even sure I’m right when I use the word altruism because I’m a bad English communicator. But I know the idiom of “meet your maker”, which referring to god if you are into that kind of thing. And the funny expression of “ready to meet my maker” means someone is ready to die. Maybe that’s not funny. To me, I believe my maker is my parents. I’m lucky they are very traditional, they got married, gave birth to me, raised me and they are not divorced. So I’m very lucky that I met my maker on the first day of my life, I live with my maker for the most time before I’m an adult. And then I still FaceTime them frequently when I move aboard. So I can meet my maker every day, and know they made a decision and stick to it, to make me and raise me. I’m more mature now, and kind of
educated, so I start to have that kind of thought that I don’t always need to make a selfish opinion on things. I can put selfless above selfishness sometimes now. That’s why I respect Jez speak up about himself and share an opinion that shows empathy to our maker, especially sympathy when makers are facing difficulties mentally or physically.
Let’s clap for this brilliant opinion. Let’s clap for his altruism perspective. Let’s clap for a shining facet of humanity.