Strangers drowning: grappling with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help
New York, 2015
Abstract
“Strangers Drowning” by Larissa MacFarquhar explores the lives of individuals who dedicate themselves to helping others, offering intimate portraits of their unwavering integrity, compromises, bravery, and the complex dilemmas they face. Through compelling stories of couples adopting numerous children in distress, founding leprosy colonies in India, and individuals prioritizing charity over personal needs, MacFarquhar examines the moral complexities of selflessness and the societal skepticism it often evokes. By weaving historical perspectives on do-gooders, the book challenges readers to confront fundamental questions about human responsibility, the limits of compassion, and the balance between personal well-being and the needs of strangers in a world of immense suffering.
Quotes from this work
It was a dull way of giving—writing checks rather than, say, becoming an aid worker in a distant country. There was a moral glamour in throwing over everything and leaving home and going somewhere dangerous that compensated for all sorts of privations. There was no glamour in staying behind, earning money, and donating it. It certainly wasn’t soul-stirring, to be thinking about money all the time. But so much depended on money, they knew—it took a callous kind of sentimentality to forget that. Money well spent could mean years of life, and money spent badly meant years of life lost.