Titanic Stars Show Meaning Of Altruism

By Akela Talamasca on May 11th, 2009

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Having just had a lovely Mother’s Day with my son, the subject of altrusim popped itself into my head, and how best to get my five year old thinking about it. The idea that we can help others is not a new one to him; he delights in pitching in with tiny chores around the house like helping me tidy the beds in the morning, or putting his own dishes in the sink to be washed, or cleaning up his toys when it’s time for bed. But the concept of helping out in a significant way without expecting something in return, especially when it’s for someone you don’t even know, might be a little tricky.

Then along came this story. The last surivor of the Titanic, Millvina Dean, now 98 years old and in need of the funds to take care of her ongoing nursing home bills, was recently aided by photographer Don Mullan and his idea to raise awareness of her needs by selling a photograph of Millvina at his newest exhibition.

He publically challenged the actors and creators of the “Titanic” movie to come forward and match him dollar-for-dollar with whatever the photograph sold for. Leo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and James Cameron have contributed $30,000 to the effort, with the other challengees Celine Dion and 20th Century Fox still unaccounted for.

Now, I might be cynical here and say that the celebrities involved might not have been acting entirely out of a sense of goodwill to their fellow humans — after all, this will be good publicity for them — but still, the mere act of giving in the end is more important than suspected motives.

My son has never seen the movie “Titanic”, and it will be a while before he does. But this is an opportunity to show him how we can help other people who are less fortunate than we are, and a chance to talk about how we age, and the different options available to us in our declining years. I don’t expect a radical overnight change to occur in him, of course, but as a way to consider that there is more going on in the world than what he experiences on a day-to-day basis, this is a good thing to present. If we can get our kids thinking globally, so to speak, they’ll grow up in a friendlier, more positive world than we ourselves might have had. Maybe at the end of our own lives, we’ll have seen our children build something that we’ll be proud to inhabit, and eventually leave behind.