Here we go again with altruism!

David Brooks is at it again, Humphrey thought, realizing his guardian will produce an exasperated sigh upon seeing another one of Humph's posts citing the conservative NY Times columnist. But, once again, Brooks is just plain relevant.

Humphrey reports for duty as resident recycler, an espeically fulfilling occupation.

It all started with today's Globe & Mail article reporting on the 10 happiest jobs (which include clergy, fire fighter, author and teacher, among others). These are contrasted against the 10 saddest jobs reported in Forbes.  Humphrey, of course, found it puzzling that "Resident Recycler" was  not included in the happiest jobs list. Nonetheless, he appreciated author Steve Denning's observation that the happiest jobs involved altruism, while the saddest ones (despite higher pay and status) have no intrinsic meeting. Just as Humphrey explained in his June 14 blog post, citing Brooks, altruism matters a great deal to human beings.
All this talk about altruism is loosely related to morality. Which brings us back to Mr. Brooks, who in his September 12 column, talks about a recent study that found 18- to 23-year-olds engage in moral individualism, tending to acribe morality to indivdual taste over universal principles. The article also cites that the youths studied had given a great deal of thought to morality in general. Now, Humphrey is well aware of neuroscientific research, and he wonders if this is more a matter of physiological development in the brain rather than a trend, but who knows?
Despite the rather hopeless tone of Brooks' article, Humphrey has great faith in the human spirit, and is confident that altruism will remain a priority! If nothing else, Brooks' previous column which Humphrey regards so highly implies that it's hard-wired in people and Maltese-poodles, among other animals.