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The Superiority of the Do-Gooder

-- By TonbaraEkiyor - 31 Mar 2015

The Superiority of the Do-Gooder

Introduction: The Desire to Do Good.

An Exercise in Introspection

Introspection that Leads to Clarity

Implications

Introduction: The Desire to Do Good.

Before the desire to join the Peace Corps or work in NGOs in Africa became a means to an end for many young people in the developed world. Those activities were an end in themselves. Many people with ‘consciences’ performed these charitable acts because they despised what they often described as the consumptive nature of American culture.

In stepping into the roles of well builder in East Africa, or volunteer teacher in Nepal, they become better than the culture they despise. Undoubtedly, many performed these acts without thinking about the benefits conferred on them. However, for many others the feeling of elevation was intensified with the humidity and mosquitoes bites.

The exhaustion felt after a day of hard work building houses in Uganda with imported lumber was a well-deserved one. Their day’s work has a dual purpose. To show the poor Africans how benevolent they are, but also to prove to people in the developed world that they are one of the few that can rise above the drudgery of material pursuits and lend themselves to others.

An Exercise in Introspection

Most people do not consciously think of the motivation behind certain actions until they engage in some level of introspection. In Albert Camus’ The Fall, the protagonist, a lawyer named Jean-Baptiste Clamence in explaining his life-long propensity for ‘heights’, describes the joy he feels when he is above. In the physical sense, in his daily life, he enjoys the upper level of buses, and would prefer the life of a mountain climber.

This feeling translates to his practice of law. He describes how ‘the feeling of the law, the satisfaction of being right and the joy of self-esteem” work in tandem with his desire to be above everyone else. Through his good deeds, Clamence achieves more than those he describes as “the vulgar ambitious man”. This he believes helped him “rise to that supreme summit where virtue is its own reward.”

It is not clear at what point Clamence became the kind of lawyer that takes clients who cannot pay because he relishes in their gratitude. Did it occur before he became a lawyer? Or did it happen when he was already a lawyer and an incident in which he experienced such gratitude led him to realize it satisfies his propensity for heights? Camus does not tell us.

What is clear is that Clamence has thought about being this kind of lawyer and finds great satisfaction in his profession because it allows him and others to see him as the best version of himself, even though it might be a false representation.

Introspection that Leads to Clarity

The absurdity in this description by Camus lies in everyone else’s view of Clamence as the quintessential do gooder, but also in Clamence’s own understanding of the selfishness that lead to his ‘public service’. However, Clamence has developed a clear understanding of the reason why he is satisfied with his role as a lawyer. His satisfaction is drawn from the reaction of people to his good deeds not merely from the good deeds he performs. He describes an incident where he tipped his hat to a blind man after helping him cross the road. An audience is necessary for Clamence’s good deeds to bring him satisfaction. The wider the audience he gets for his beneficence the better.

Clamence gives us a different approach to understanding our decision to pursue a given area or kind of law. Clamence’s introspection begins with something simple, an understanding of who he is. He sees clearly the kind of person he is and how that speaks to the kind of lawyer he becomes. The starting point is not “what kind of lawyer do you want to be”, as that is already formed. It is formed from the kind of person that you are. The question “why are you in law school” is not one that often leads to profound answers and some kind of self-discovery. The answers given are answers that are clear in any other setting. Law school is a means to an end, what makes it particularly attractive is that it is a means to a variety of ends. It is tailored to suit the person who decides that doing good is the end, the person for whom doing good is a means to an end, and also the person for whom doing good is peripheral.

Implications

Concededly, there are many people who decide to take on the role of do-gooder with doing good as the end. Those people shall inherit the earth. The argument could be made that the motive behind one’s decision to practice a certain area of law might be irrelevant as long as one’s contribution to the world is positive. However, there is something to the knowledge that a person’s motivation for being the kind of lawyer like Clamence who declines a fee for his services because he feels ‘elevated’ by performing that act takes away from the benevolent nature of the act.

If the decision not to be ‘vulgarly ambitious’ is drawn from the desire to be a better person, then we must also find problematic the decision to be the kind of lawyer that is not a ‘corporate leech’ because he believes that he is superior to the corporate leech and the clients he defends for free.

COMMENT (Henry Ross): Tonbara- Interesting piece. I realize you have limited space, but I'd like to know more about the implications of the attitude you describe and criticize. It's not just that Clamence's motives are unsavory, right? Isn't it, for example, that someone dies because Clamence won't put himself at risk to save someone jumping off the Pont Royal? That peace corps types won't do something good unless doing it happens to give them a feeling of superiority? That's not just a problem of conscience or motives--that's a problem of real-world effects. Finally, what are the implications for you? What do you take away from your idea about the kind of lawyer you want to be? I'm sure we could draw a few obvious conclusions, but I think there's a lot about you going lurking in here but going unsaid.

Comment (Tonbara Ekiyor): Thanks for the comments Henry. In my opinion, Clamence did not save the girl jumping into the Seine because there was no audience to appreciate his heroic acts. Although the fact that he did not try to save her haunts him for the rest of the book, it highlights the absurdity in the fact that he thinks of himself as a 'good' person but did not try to save the girl. What i'm trying to draw out is the need to examine one's motivation for pursuing particular life paths. But before I go on, i'd be interested to hear what you mean by chasing the feeling of superiority is a "problem of real world effects" .

COMMENT (ToddDensen): Thank you for writing this, it is an important lens to view our developing practices through. I do not doubt there are Clamences at Columbia. I think to myself often, if I want to do public interest work, then why did I come to Columbia? Is it because I was afraid to commit to it and wanted to leave option open? Is it because I knew I would do public service, but I wanted to prove how "smart" I was to others in my life, that I could get into this school? Or is it because the decision to do public interest from Columbia, where I could make a large salary if I desired, would seem all the more noble (Clamence personified)? Or is it that it is a slow process of discovery and I will make the choice of what to practice for other reasons? I do not know, but Clamence is a good story for checking ego and really understanding what our practices need to be for ourselves.

COMMENT (AlexWeiss): Awesome piece Tombara! To piggyback on Todd's thoughts -- perhaps we chose Columbia with the thought that it would open powerful public interest opportunities to us. Sometimes I think my biggest fear -- and perhaps this means I'm motivated by selfish reasons, perhaps not -- is that if I do go into public interest, I'll wind up in a job that doesn't feel as though I'm making a tangible impact on people's lives. If I'm going to make a difference, I want to make a big difference -- although I think that ties back into what you were saying, Tombara. Maybe that makes me a Clamence (I am obsessed with climbing mountains) -- although I don't think that a feeling of superiority over my clients is what I would be seeking; perhaps it's a competitive feeling of superiority over my peers in the profession; or maybe it's just a sense of purpose. In either event, I do agree that introspection is important; that doing good merely for a sense of superiority is destined to make you feel empty.

I haven't read The Fall, but I'm curious -- I would think that Clamence is haunted by his decision not to save the girl seems to imply he is genuinely good. Or at least a part of him is. Perhaps his subsequent turmoil is his splitting.

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