Altruism to the lost generation!

I'm a child of altruism; I was born in a hospital in a remote village built by Altruists from a foreign land. Lived the first two decades of my life in another hospital campus built by people without any self-interest. I have travelled to remote corners of my country, to almost all of the 29 states. Many places in the God-forsaken North East and the considered BIMARU (Sick) states. Places where livelihood is still very primitive. Where transport and electricity are still unheard of! And have seen health workers sweat it out, just so that the poor living there could access care. I once walked a few kilometres in a jungle with a man to see one patient. One Patient!  And some of the best years of my life were lived in the campus built by the greatest of them all. Dr Ida Scudder who built the biggest medical college in India which has trained and sent thousands of health workers across the globe, just because she saw three young women dying without access to health care.

Almost all of them are altruists! Altruism? Selflessness is the word. Where self-interest is the last thing in their dictionary. They lived for the world. For the people. And many times for a God they loved and trusted. 

What happened to their childhood dream of becoming rich? Didn't they have crushes living in faraway places? How about educating their children? Weren't they ambitious professionally? Of course yes! A big YES! They were humans too. Yet they sacrificed everything at the altar of altruism. Self-interest was killed for the sake of the love of helping the world be a better place. 

So what happened now? Why suddenly this article? 

When my sister spoke passionately about the loss of piety in these hospitals now I became a little numb! Is this true? Am I the generation which has lost that sense of love and responsibility towards the world? Is it true that this generation boasts of a bigger ego, a bloated self, more interested in them and theirs than the previous and those before them? Is it true that the word altruism is being lost to the world? 

Sadly yes! Sometimes numbers don't lie. And statistically many of these great hospitals in the remotest areas of my country are being closed down for want of people! Many are gasping and are on its last breaths including the one which birthed me. Capitalism for all its facilities and securities, sadly have made us inward looking. 

So what do we do now? Close down all those institutions, lament about the lack of selfless people in this generation and write blogs?

This generation needs to show off! We want to tell the world we are stars. We tweet our views. We Instagram our happiness. We facebook our travelogue. We blog to showcase our writing skills. We want the world to know we care more than we actually care.  

Is there a way to show altruists as heroes to this generation? Can the generation's egos be stoked to live up to those great people? Are there ways to make working in these places social media worthy stories? And more importantly, is there a way to balance selflessness with gratifying the basic necessities of my generation? 

For altruism has to be marketed to the lost generation!