IN THIS ISSUE:
Acts of Altruism | Alumni Interview | Class Profiles

FEATURE STORY — November/December 2004

People do extraordinary things – and simple, ordinary things – to help one another in this world.

Throughout this issue, perhaps on pages and in sections where you'd least expect it, Illinois Alumni celebrates the goodness of humanity by sharing stories that demonstrate the spirit of giving. Examples of selflessness, kindness and a lot of much-needed help. Not because people are paid to do them, but because they choose to do them.

And there are many.

We hope you enjoy reading about and getting to know these good-hearted souls. Of course, the pages of this magazine will never be able to document all the stories of all the good works that go on every day by all the thousands of alumni out there doing them.

But that's a good problem to have, don't you think?

— Vanessa Faurie, Editor

By Beatrice Pavia

Deep down in the very fabric of ourselves, as we form in the quiet of our mother's womb, as we are weaved into the very essence of human nature, it is there.

Some would call it a soul. Some would point to it as a "hard wire" of Homo sapiens. Some would call it the human inclination to respond to beauty. Some would say it isn't there at all.

"We have an instinct for goodness," said Archbishop Desmond Tutu of his fellow human beings. "When we see the good, our hearts recognize it and are thrilled."

Conversely, we also recognize the reverse. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," wrote American poet Robert Frost on the discomfort that division creates, "that wants it down!"

So it is with us humans, who seem to want to tear down or leap over or beam through those walls, whether they are braced by intolerance, poverty, illness or distrust. The impediments may be found next door or in our families or across the world. We choose to bridge them by innumerably creative methods  among them, action, art or altruism.

Anthropologist Richard Leakey believes that reciprocity —the giving back and forth among members of a group—moved us, in part, from animal to human; some even suspect that shift may have set into our genes. A classic study of day-old newborns crying empathetically with other crying infants evinces what social psychologist Jane Jegerski '68 LAS, MA '85 (UIC), PHD '87 (UIC), calls that sense of togetherness that holds us together, "the oil for a whole society."

But while we originally may have joined with one another to survive the hunt, those hunting days are far behind us, especially in the prosperous United States, whose volunteers rank among the most numerous in the world.

So why keep going?

Societies throughout the ages and across the world have concluded that empathy proves a wise path—note the folk cultures, whose sayings, from Confucius to the Golden Rule to "walking in the moccasins of others," support this notion. On the stage of history, all mainstream world religions have developed a component of caring for others. On the most immediate level, a strong, parental model of giving, say social psychologists, establishes an expectation of compassion and service and is often reflected in the doings of later generations.

But one doesn't have to look to evolution, religion or social development to understand the paradigm of goodness—the sense of altruism that lets us do for others without thinking of gain for ourselves. While researchers have noted that helpers tend to display certain characteristics—self-reliance, the ability to focus on others and an unwillingness to see themselves as heroes—one doesn't have to study goodness to recognize it or do it.

Humans seem to innately understand that to reach out is to define our very selves and preserve in our species the best of our instincts. Lisa Woll '83 LAS, a woman who has headed various service agencies, puts it: "To reach out beyond my limited horizons—for me, that's oxygen."

So let us celebrate and honor our life's breath.