I’m so happy to see this here! Hugh Thompson is one of my favorite heroes of history.
What I especially love about his story is that there’s nothing remarkable in his public biography besides his actions on the one day he’s known for. Everyone can aspire to Thompson’s model of courage. We won’t all achieve perfection or reinvent ourselves in the image of a Borlaug, but we should all try to cultivate moral discernment and bravery.
I love the thought of Hugh Thompson as exemplifying some cherished EA principles.
“Why did you decide to try to save those villagers, Hugh?”
“I employed the importance/neglectedness/tractability framework! The villagers’ lives were important, nobody else was helping them, and I saw that I might be able to help myself.”
EA doesn’t place much emphasis on person-to-person opportunities for doing good, but I think that applying the concepts outside their typical contexts can help in remembering that it’s not only in career choices or funding allocations that we confront decision points at which we can profoundly impact others’ lives for the better.
I’m so happy to see this here! Hugh Thompson is one of my favorite heroes of history.
What I especially love about his story is that there’s nothing remarkable in his public biography besides his actions on the one day he’s known for. Everyone can aspire to Thompson’s model of courage. We won’t all achieve perfection or reinvent ourselves in the image of a Borlaug, but we should all try to cultivate moral discernment and bravery.
I love the thought of Hugh Thompson as exemplifying some cherished EA principles.
“Why did you decide to try to save those villagers, Hugh?”
“I employed the importance/neglectedness/tractability framework! The villagers’ lives were important, nobody else was helping them, and I saw that I might be able to help myself.”
EA doesn’t place much emphasis on person-to-person opportunities for doing good, but I think that applying the concepts outside their typical contexts can help in remembering that it’s not only in career choices or funding allocations that we confront decision points at which we can profoundly impact others’ lives for the better.