Why don't people do more to help society?

[Calmnesspersonified]

I just went for a walk and it got me thinking about why people don't do more to help society. It's been raging on my local community facebook groups about why the paths aren't gritted (it's been really icy here) but there's no way that the council can do even a tiny percentage of all of them.

I grit my estate every time it's icy and don't understand why more people don't do the same. If everyone just adopted their street and made sure it was gritted in the ice and kept free of litter a huge proportion of the country would be litter free and navigable in the ice. I know that some couldn't get involved e.g. the elderly, people working crazy hours, some disabilities etc but millions more could.

Even if there's no nearby grit bin, a bag of grit doesn't cost a fortune and many people can afford a few pounds (I'm well aware some can't and that's understandable). Litter pickers can be as cheap as £2 and are often available for free from town councils. Sacks often are too.

It doesn't even have to take more than a few minutes. It took about 3 minutes to grit my road this morning. I went to the dentist on Monday and got there 15 minutes early. I picked up half a sack of rubbish outside while I waited (instead of playing on my phone like everyone else in the waiting room).

There's so many ways to help. Listen to readers at a local school, offer to take your neighbours kids/dog for a walk to give them an hour free, volunteer to go into a care home to talk to someone who doesn't get visitors, slip a fiver through the letter box of someone you know is struggling, give a fiver to the food bank, litter pick, grit your road etc. Why don't people do more. People say they don't have time but so many spend hours on their phone or watching TV.

I'm certainly no bloody angel but I couldn't sit back and do nothing to help my town. Why don't people do more?

Millions of people do voluntary work in the UK. It's estimated that 64% of the population volunteer in some way.

I'm really upset. I was thinking of giving up one of the charities I advise because I actually get so little downtime and it's affecting my mental health. And now I'm feeling so so so guilty for even thinking of doing that. I do over a day a week pro bono and I wanted to cut it down because I need a break. It's affecting my physical and mental health.

But no one knows. Unless you are involved with the same charities I am. Because it's not performative it's not out there physically doing stuff. It's behind closed doors in my house and my neighbours must be thinking I could take 5 minutes a day to do this or that and I could try harder and do more.

People do as much as they are physically and mentally able to do. Some people can do more, and some can do less. And that's ok and no one should be judged or judging anyone for how much they do

I knew what you meant op. Don't take it to heart, some people could start a fight in an empty room.

The op very clearly wasn't talking about you. You give lots of your free time to help others, which is brilliant, no one was saying that you should do more.

@strumpert, please give it up if that's what you need to do. There is no point breaking yourself. The way I see it, it's a bit like the oxygen masks when you're flying...put your own on first before trying to help anyone else.

I hope you're OK.

It wouldn't occur to me to do any of this stuff, I assume it is somebody's job/"just happens" I suppose. But if I knew everyone was clubbing together to do it and it would improve our local area then I'd probably join in.

That said I live in Germany and it's the responsibility of the homeowner or tenant to clear snow on the pavement in front of the house. The last flat we lived in had a rota for all the neighbours and I used to dread snow days wondering if it would be our turn! It never was in the end.

I think what we need is a reinvention of religion without the religious story or commitment on a Sunday morning bit - just some way to bring local communities together, listen to each other, do what we can to improve our local areas/facilities. It could start just with a street whatsapp chat or facebook group? I would love to get to know my neighbours but I don't want to pretend to believe in God.

Calmnesspersonified . Keep doing what you are doing I'm sure your local community appreciates it. Ignore those on here who have been unpleasant. I think on the whole this thread has proved your point about the "Why should I " types " who all add to the increasingly selfish society we live in.

But it’s not acceptable to judge anyone and keep questioning why they aren’t doing more. There’s a million reasons. When posters say they felt too busy, the OP continued to question and try to guilt people into it. She’s might have made them feel like shit but has now flounced off saying she’s upset! Madness.

I think OP has had an unfairly hard time on this thread.

If you’re one of the people who already gives time up to community/voluntary activity, it’s probably safe to assume that she wasn’t talking about you. There are lots of people on this thread who clearly do loads already.

She wasn’t suggesting that all of us work ourselves into the ground, regardless of disabilities or extenuating factors. Just that there are a lot of people who never trouble themselves to do anything that isn’t purely self-motivated. And what a better world it would be if they all did their bit.

Yes, of course it would be great if everyone did what they could, but what a lot of us are saying is that it isn't that simple.

Many people will be quietly doing stuff that nobody knows about. And others simply won't have the capacity to do stuff, for one reason or another. And that's OK, maybe they will do more when their circumstances change.

I have to agree with the posters that say about council tax and where that money is you see these “jobs/tasks” are assigned to people, regardless if that is a paid or voluntary job, people are assigned to it.. helping society would be preventing these things in the first place, for example you say about litter picking… how about people be more responsible with their litter and so on. I have noticed in this country money is what motivates people… back in the days and in many places still to this day, dogs were allowed to use the street ad their toilet and owners just walk on by like its not their responsibility! The one big thing to change that was adding a big fine and penalising people for not cleaning up after their dog! Now all of a sudden you dont see as much crap around the place (even though you still see it).

They implemented a fine for littering/loitering also however when the government are not serious about sticking to it, people dont feel like they care to adhere to the rules as much and as a result you have the rest of society having to either deal with the consequences or clean up after others.

Where i am in London it doesnt snow often, so when it does there are no “grit bins” for us to be using let alone for the government to easily access grit.. having said that it is not the residents responsibility to go out their way and use their money to buy a grit bin with grit, place it in a communal area and grit the place hoping others would do the same.. likewise it is not the resident’s responsibility to buy grit themselves alone to grit a communal area (otherwise it would make sense for everyone impacted in that area to put funds together and buy what is needed and take it in turns gritting what needs to be).

These responsibilities should not fall on one person alone unless you are clearing your own personal space. The government are the ones to implement rules and regulations and should they want society to do more (so they can do less) they would have to provide some kind of appealing incentive. The same goes for just asking people to be more responsible with waste.. They cannot ask these things without meeting at least half way and facilitate that change.

*where that money is going

It’s not her place to question and guilt trip like she did just a few posts in. It’s judgemental and unkind, whether that’s how she meant it or not. Insisting people can do more that feel they can’t or don’t want to because their life is busy already, isn’t ok. If someone does that, then they need to be prepared for people to answer how they have in many cases.

Careful OP. You might not slip on the ice now you've gritted but you are in grave danger of tripping on your halo or your budget pants.
Be content in your own actions rather than wasting energy judging the perceived failures of others.

*judgey pants

I find the assumption that people do not help their communities nor behave in a neighbourly way rather silly. That has not been my experience at all - quite the opposite.

There are so many people doing so much to help society but just aren’t doing the things you have identified.

Im a scouts parent volunteer, volunteer weekly with an autism group, mentor adopters through the early months of adoption placement, and volunteer as an Independent Visitor for a child in care. I also work full time and have a disabled child. So my free time is mine to veg on the sofa, scroll mindlessly through my phone, read books and relax rather than litter picking and gritting roads.

And I clearly said not everyone could do these examples due to age, disabilities etc.

My point was you don't know who we are.

That's pretty nasty

If people are already doing something then brilliant, I don't that the op was suggesting that people wear themselves to the bone, I read it as more about the people who could, but don't want to. We have come to favour individualism over society and society is the less for it.

This is a very pious and smug post. Who the fuck grits their own road? My council tax is £270, they can fucking do it.
Having said that I abhor litter and get very irate when I see litter and fly tipping. I immediately report it on Love Clean Streets. The council then come and sort it if it's on public land. Most of the local dog owners have it, we are sick of seeing the same places being shat on by the general public while Veolia (outsourced street cleaning) do fuck all.

But some people here have said the reason why they ‘don’t want to’ is because they’re already busy. Still insisting that they do have time isn’t ok. It’s rude.

Because if I clear the snow or ice away from my and the bit of public footpath outside my home and someone slips and injures themselves then I'm liable to be sued.
If it's left alone then it's seen as an act of God and therefore I'm not liable.
Plus I can't be arsed, I've got enough to do.