Motive

A friend of mine has an interesting little anecdote posted on her Myspace page. The Cliffs notes version of it goes something like this: someone walking on the beach is tossing Starfish back into the ocean when their friend comments about how they’ll never make a difference in the grand scheme of things, to which the good citizen replies “made a difference to that one.”

Really, it’s a nice sentiment and it’s true. You don’t have to change the world to make a difference. Then last week I was watching something on CNN, I think the special was called “What’s a Christian” or something to that affect. And I made a connection between the Starfish tosser and the Christians. Not really a direct connection, but part of the CNN story talked about the movement among Christian Fundamentalists to help Israel. As usual, I was probably reaching a bit when this occurred to me, but you’ll read it anyway.

My thinking was this: if you toss the Starfish and it lands near a big bad shark that eats it up, was it still a good deed? Much like I thought about the Fundamentalists motive behind helping Israel, as they feel in order for Jesus to return that Israel must remain a Jewish state. Personally, I see those motives as purely self-serving. So between the Starfish and the Christian Right, I began to wonder, how much does motive matter?

If you’re trying to do something for the simple reason that it betters someone elses situation, be it a Starfish or random person, and your deed results in hurting them, well does that lessen the deed? And if you’re doing something solely because it benefits your own cause, and it just so happens to help someone else obtain what they want, is that an act of kindness or a selfish act?

My stance is this, motive matters. It isn’t everything, but it carries more weight than the actual outcome. If someone loans me money for something specific and I go and lose it at the casino, well that’s on me, and me only. They did what they could to help, and couldn’t control anything after that. Now if someone helps me to find a new job, and leads me to believe they are doing it as a favor, when in reality they are doing it so they can fill my current position with a friend. Well that’s just some shady shit. Sure, I might be better off with the new position, and it might be what I want. But what I want just as much is for people to be up front with me.

Not for one second do I view the actions of Pat Robertson and his cronies as friendly. Nor do I find it respectable. If they flat out said, “we’re doing this for the simple fact that it benefits us according to our beliefs,” well I could respect that. Then have the opportunity to decide whether to accept, or decline their “helping” hand.

Motive is what separates the guy who preys on vulnerable women and the good guys who might just end up dating one. Motive is the difference between Snakes on a Plane and Oceans 12.