By Ben Riggleman

On Page 2, you read about Coach Brian Dougher’s no-nonsense approach to helping Hurricane Irma victims: “It doesn’t matter what type of environment we’re in; we’re down there to do a job and we do it well.” Dougher, you may have noticed, doesn’t talk about his motivations. It’s as if helping people in need is a duty so basic that it doesn’t need much discussion.

Most of us, it’s safe to say, don’t think this selflessly. At least, it doesn’t come naturally to us. But we could all take some inspiration from those SMCC staff — Brian Dougher, Nate Contreras and Clif Whitten — who went to Florida. Maybe we should follow their example and question the value we put on our own life and limb, our own time, our own aspirations.

The philosopher Peter Singer and others have been saying the same for years, arguing that we owe much more to the poor in the developing world than our culture tells us is appropriate to give. This belief was the germ of the Effective Altruism movement, which promotes doing the most good possible, measured quantitatively, as in the human life-years saved by the distribution of anti-malaria mosquito netting. (Often, members of the movement conclude that it is better for them to “earn to give” than to volunteer their labor directly.)

The ideas of Effective Altruism are still far from the mainstream, but, like Dougher, Contreras and Whitten, they can spur us to question what we take for granted. Being selfless is a tough sell, however, so maybe it’s best to start small.

At The Beacon, we consider our work to be a small but meaningful service to the public. We keep the SMCC community informed. Sometimes we’ve printed critical information, like the PSA to former DACA beneficiaries and their families that ran in place of this column in the last issue.

I’ll be frank: The Beacon needs volunteers. We need more students to step up and write about things that matter. The world outside this quiet campus is shifting — socially, environmentally, politically — and we’re involved, whether we like it or not. Ideally, we’re here at community college not just to further our careers, but to become more engaged citizens by informing ourselves. So I urge you to pick a topic you’re passionate about, get educated on it and take a stand: Write about it in the Opinion section of The Beacon. Interested writers should submit drafts to to benjaminsriggleman@smccme.edu as Microsoft Word or Google Docs files, and provide a word count. I look forward to seeing your thoughts in print, and so should you.

There are other easy ways to volunteer. For one, The Captain’s Cupboard, the student-run food pantry on the South Portland Campus, is in need of staff. Contact captainscupboard@smccme.edu if you’re interested. You don’t have to travel to disaster-stricken areas or donate millions to be of service.