Cultures of giving

How can we create cultures where giving and helping are the norms when so many times, the prevailing norm is that of survival?

I’ve thought this a lot about it in the context of college education because it’s the space that I work in, but I think about it whenever I hear someone convey fatigue regarding their work day (the fatigue generally seems to have deeper roots). In the context of my work as a college professor, I’ve explored this question in my two latest essays on Substack here and here. At the heart of those two pieces is the idea that this type of culture change must start with individuals. Individuals wanting more, wanting differently. Individuals who are tired of being tired and claim the power to call for change. Those individuals need to find their flock so that they aren’t trying to build a movement alone, and writing is one of the best ways to do so. Writing that shares personal experience and proposes ideas for how things could be different can be so powerful in this regard. Culture change is slow, so in the meantime, those who desire change can nourish their souls by enacting small changes that are within their control. It also provides experimentation ground for seeing how ideas for change play out in reality and the chance for those ideas to be seen by others (perhaps inspiring them to join the cause).