The title for the country with the most helpful and charitable citizens goes to both Myanmar and the USA, according to the results of the 2014 World Giving Index. Have you helped someone you didn’t know within the last month? Four out of five Americans answered with yes.
One of those attentive U.S. citizens is Morgan Taylor, a freshman from Idaho majoring in biology. “So I was going into the cafeteria and I see a guy coming behind me; so I just hold the door open. ‘Thank you,’ he said and I started talking to him. He was really sad that day. [He said], ‘I haven’t talked to anybody today. Thanks for talking to me.’ A smile can change a life. That is by somebody famous, but I don’t know whom.”
“I was riding my skateboard,” remembered Taylor, “and I was carrying stuff from Foodland. It was really hard, I had a lot of stuff. So two guys came up and helped me. And now we are like best buds. That was cool.”
Being helpful is a doctrine in the Book of Mormon. Keith Lane, professor for religion, said, “In the Book of Mormon you have the idea that, if a person does good, it’s working by the gifts and power of God. In the long run, to do good there has to be this transformation of character in a person that only happens fully with the doctrine of Christ. The gifts of the spirits are there to help and to do the work of the Lord.”
“[What makes Americans so helpful],” continued Taylor, “is probably them seeing a need. We are fast-paced. We just want to get it done. It’s not like something bad is going to happen to us if we help someone. I like to go to bed every night thinking that I have done at least one good thing today. If I had a bad day at least I did one good thing. But who says I can’t have more than that?”
Taylor said she tries to rely on the Spirit to show her who to help, but otherwise she will ask someone what she can help them with. “I am keeping my eye out for somebody who needs help.”
Hiagi Wesley, associate professor for Hawaiian culture studies, sees helpfulness also as part of the Polynesian lifestyle. “It is the aloha way of life. You feel aloha, and you live it and you show others about it in terms of caring for them. People basically go out to be kind to you, and that is an underlying value that is part of the culture.”
Wesley then related aloha to the breath of life, and said that most Polynesian cultures have a form of this concept.
People’s helpfulness and readiness to donate doesn’t depend on their or the country’s economic strength, reported CAF (Charities Aid Foundation). Only five of the 20 most helpful nations belong to the worldwide strongest economic powers. The study took into account three areas of giving: donating money, helping a stranger, and volunteering time.
Poorer countries like Iran and Myanmar are high up in the ranking not in spite of but due to the conflict or disasters there, it said. Only Ireland and the United Kingdom are the European countries among the first 10.
“Society [in Europe],” observed Lane, “has kind of left Christianity. When Europe moves away from the traditional Christian foundation then they don’t have anything else.”
“People would say, ‘Can’t we just all get along?’” asked Lane. “But the truth is people can’t get along without the help of God. The natural man is an enemy of God and this is true of society as well. I think that any inclination to be charitable is from God. The natural things that help individuals help communities. This is the form of Zion, the unity.”
Lane continued, “There can be a clear, greater strength that you can have by the gift of the Holy Ghost. People can be inspired outside of the Church. They are anonymous Christians. They follow the light of Christ without knowing. But it takes a reorientation on our part of really wanting to do good and build God’s kingdom and not just live a good live and help when you have to. It’s a different framework when you see your whole life as a consecration.”
“So where does it come from?” asked Wesley, “Where is it origin? The people of Oceania are close to deity, to God. Hawaii is magical, isn’t it? When somebody has the spirit of Aloha, it makes all the difference. The attribute of charity, real love, [is] the definition of Zion: people of one heart, one mind.”
Wesley continued to say that, though we are working towards that goal, BYU–Hawaii is not yet Zion. “Well,” continued Wesley, “where is the source of love? The spirit of aloha is very much related to the spirit of the Lord in forms of caring for one another, for your surroundings. You go to the temple for spiritual nourishment, you have the academic learning here in campus and at the Polynesian Culture Center you have the cultural aspect. The Aloha experience is very unique on this campus.”