[HannibalLecter]

I've always liked crime dramas. From Ironside and Hawaii Five-O to Murder, She Wrote and Remington Steele, to CSI and Criminal Minds.
However, there is this one thing that I have never been able to comprehend: generosity.
How many officers ought to be involved in the search for a missing child? In my mind with my view of humanity: no more than three. I cannot believe that any more than three would bother with a missing child. I cannot believe humans to be so generous with their time, the government with the money it puts into crime-catching, etc.
I would always write it off as being something for which one is to "suspend disbelief" when thirty or forty people were involved in the search; then, when I started reading true cases a few years ago, I was taken aback by the fact that it was true! I could not believe such a thing!
There was this one case, can't remember the kid's name, in which the police officer continued searching for the boy even after retiring.
I cannot conceive of any human caring for others - especially strangers - this much.

 

[ZeRo]

I've always liked crime dramas. From Ironside and Hawaii Five-O to Murder, She Wrote and Remington Steele, to CSI and Criminal Minds.
However, there is this one thing that I have never been able to comprehend: generosity.
How many officers ought to be involved in the search for a missing child? In my mind with my view of humanity: no more than three. I cannot believe that any more than three would bother with a missing child. I cannot believe humans to be so generous with their time, the government with the money it puts into crime-catching, etc.
I would always write it off as being something for which one is to "suspend disbelief" when thirty or forty people were involved in the search; then, when I started reading true cases a few years ago, I was taken aback by the fact that it was true! I could not believe such a thing!
There was this one case, can't remember the kid's name, in which the police officer continued searching for the boy even after retiring.
I cannot conceive of any human caring for others - especially strangers - this much.

Mmmm ... indeed. Sometimes when I watch CSI: Miami, in particular... I find that I kind of get creeped out by H because he is so generous. I think I am creeped out by his character because he is too nice and because it is a television show I just dismiss it and say it's fake...So generous it is unrealistic. No one can be that bothered etc.

Although, like yourself I watch a lot of crime shows etc, and I watched a documentary where one detective had promised to find the culprit. After a long, long time where the case had gone cold, he decided not to shave his beard until he could find the guy who murdered or what ever. I think he had a huge bushy beard for about a decade. It was uncanny. In the end he found the person. Just the idea that not only did he spend so long trying to help give this family peace, but he himself made sure he never forgot.

 

[Rationality]

I love crime shows and mysteries too, my motto is that if somebody dies I'll watch it. Bonus points if it's got crime-solving old ladies in it. With generosity you're missing a key element of human nature -- people love to feel good about themselves and be a part of any sort of drama. Heroism > apathy.

 

[SlowPoke68]

Generosity, as you describe it, can probably be better understood if one considers that by a certain point in one's life one might feel the need to compensate for the damage he's done to others in the world, and to recognize the sterile and self-serving lonely void his life has become. Maybe one decides he can either go on being Consumer X with a nice apartment and a strict work-out schedule or alternately he can help bring closure to people who've suffered the worst thing most adults can imagine: The loss of a child.

So that makes sense to me . . .

 

[ZeRo]

Generosity, as you describe it, can probably be better understood if one considers that by a certain point in one's life one might feel the need to compensate for the damage he's done to others in the world, and to recognize the sterile and self-serving lonely void his life has become. Maybe one decides he can either go on being Consumer X with a nice apartment and a strict work-out schedule or alternately he can help bring closure to people who've suffered the worst thing most adults can imagine: The loss of a child.

So that makes sense to me . . .

Mmmm, I like that idea.


I dunno, I've always thought that "generosity" was a virtue...
It is knowing and then doing something that is beneficial and for the greater good that people wouldn't normally expect you or an "average" person (or their perception of "average") to do.

Sometimes what you think is generous, might just be normal for other people and they might not see it that way....

Your deeds are deeds, but if they are beyond what people expected you to do, whether you gave up time, money etc. boosts that portrayal of generosity in my opinion...

 

[alionsroar]

I cannot conceive of any human caring for others - especially strangers - this much.

It might not be about caring just a clinging to the belief that if they do all that to find a child then they'd have lots of people come looking for them or their child if they were missing.

Well at least that's one reason that is explained here about why people vote when it doesn't seem logical: Why Do People Bother Voting? ? PsyBlog

Or maybe it's just empathy thinking they'd want everyone looking for their child if they went missing.

 

[Jojo]

I've always liked crime dramas. From Ironside and Hawaii Five-O to Murder, She Wrote and Remington Steele, to CSI and Criminal Minds.
However, there is this one thing that I have never been able to comprehend: generosity.
How many officers ought to be involved in the search for a missing child? In my mind with my view of humanity: no more than three. I cannot believe that any more than three would bother with a missing child. I cannot believe humans to be so generous with their time, the government with the money it puts into crime-catching, etc.
I would always write it off as being something for which one is to "suspend disbelief" when thirty or forty people were involved in the search; then, when I started reading true cases a few years ago, I was taken aback by the fact that it was true! I could not believe such a thing!
There was this one case, can't remember the kid's name, in which the police officer continued searching for the boy even after retiring.
I cannot conceive of any human caring for others - especially strangers - this much.

It is true that communities come together. There was the murder of the pregnant girl in Ohio whose police officer boyfriend killed her and rolled her in a carpet and buried her in a state park. The news media can get people involved for the wrong reasons and I think some do so they could say they were there. However, there are genuine caring people. That story has more sick twists than I can shake a stick at. It could be a TV movie.

 

[marked174]

I've always liked crime dramas. From Ironside and Hawaii Five-O to Murder, She Wrote and Remington Steele, to CSI and Criminal Minds.
However, there is this one thing that I have never been able to comprehend: generosity.
How many officers ought to be involved in the search for a missing child? In my mind with my view of humanity: no more than three. I cannot believe that any more than three would bother with a missing child. I cannot believe humans to be so generous with their time, the government with the money it puts into crime-catching, etc.
I would always write it off as being something for which one is to "suspend disbelief" when thirty or forty people were involved in the search; then, when I started reading true cases a few years ago, I was taken aback by the fact that it was true! I could not believe such a thing!
There was this one case, can't remember the kid's name, in which the police officer continued searching for the boy even after retiring.
I cannot conceive of any human caring for others - especially strangers - this much.

You might have an Fe deficiency. I suggest you look into it.

 

[kiwigrl]

I cannot conceive of any human caring for others - especially strangers - this much.

Perhaps it requires for you to be an NF to understand it.

I have felt compassion for strangers many times. It is just in my dna. When I see on the news that a kid is missing, I start praying that they will be found alive.
Once, I saw an asian girl sitting at a bus stop in the rain, texting and crying her eyes out. Despite me being out in the pouring rain running, I stopped to ask her if she was ok. It was clear that she wasn't, but I just wanted her to know that I had noticed and was worried, someone cared.

 

[SlowPoke68]

I dunno, I've always thought that "generosity" was a virtue...
It is knowing and then doing something that is beneficial and for the greater good that people wouldn't normally expect you or an "average" person (or their perception of "average") to do.

Sometimes what you think is generous, might just be normal for other people and they might not see it that way....

Your deeds are deeds, but if they are beyond what people expected you to do, whether you gave up time, money etc. boosts that portrayal of generosity in my opinion...

Virtue, like generosity does not compute.

In place of virtue we have psychiatry.

In place of generosity we have enlightened self-interest.

 

[xezene]

I've always liked crime dramas. From Ironside and Hawaii Five-O to Murder, She Wrote and Remington Steele, to CSI and Criminal Minds.
However, there is this one thing that I have never been able to comprehend: generosity.
How many officers ought to be involved in the search for a missing child? In my mind with my view of humanity: no more than three. I cannot believe that any more than three would bother with a missing child. I cannot believe humans to be so generous with their time, the government with the money it puts into crime-catching, etc.
I would always write it off as being something for which one is to "suspend disbelief" when thirty or forty people were involved in the search; then, when I started reading true cases a few years ago, I was taken aback by the fact that it was true! I could not believe such a thing!
There was this one case, can't remember the kid's name, in which the police officer continued searching for the boy even after retiring.
I cannot conceive of any human caring for others - especially strangers - this much.

It is not real. You are right. People in that field are more than likely not going to care that much about a stranger, in today's world. The show's fake. And in order to get the audience involved and to create drama, often times writers will make problems bigger than they seem/characters care more than they should. So yeah, poor writing & the fact that it is a TV show and not reality is to blame.

In answer to your example, it might have occurred a few times, as you mentioned. Select cases. But I would be surprised if it is common in the real world. Or I should say, modern era.

 

[Oleas]

That's what ENFJs are for, baby! LOL

 

[Blue Butterfly]

I cannot conceive of any human caring for others - especially strangers - this much.

I know you now through and through. I can see right through you now.

 

[kiwigrl]

I know you now through and through. I can see right through you now.

Do you really? And what is your theory?

 

[Blue Butterfly]

Do you really? And what is your theory?

Oh yes I am afraid I do. And no not in public.

 

[RareBird]

I've always liked crime dramas. From Ironside and Hawaii Five-O to Murder, She Wrote and Remington Steele, to CSI and Criminal Minds.
However, there is this one thing that I have never been able to comprehend: generosity.
How many officers ought to be involved in the search for a missing child? In my mind with my view of humanity: no more than three. I cannot believe that any more than three would bother with a missing child. I cannot believe humans to be so generous with their time, the government with the money it puts into crime-catching, etc.
I would always write it off as being something for which one is to "suspend disbelief" when thirty or forty people were involved in the search; then, when I started reading true cases a few years ago, I was taken aback by the fact that it was true! I could not believe such a thing!
There was this one case, can't remember the kid's name, in which the police officer continued searching for the boy even after retiring.
I cannot conceive of any human caring for others - especially strangers - this much.

Crime dramas are fascinating. I like anything that helps to learn the criminal mind. Why people do the things they do and believe the things they believe? Questions that must be answered.

 

[RareBird]

I know you now through and through. I can see right through you now.

I hope you reconsider telling what you know. I would love to hear your thoughts. The online Hannibal is as fascinating as the character Hannibal.

 

[Jazzlee]

Well, I've never been able to quite understand it myself. I think the source of one's generosity depends on the person in question: one of my close friends for instance, does it because it makes her feel good about herself. (Though she never says this aloud, I just know.) Another one of my friends does it because she feels guilty about it afterwards if she hasn't done everything to her full extent for a person.

As for me, I guess it sort of depends on how much I can relate to the situation. I'd have probably gone out to search out for the lost child as well, but probably not to the point that I'd keep going after retirement (had I been a police officer in the latter case). But I wouldn't put myself in danger for a stranger - my generosity doesn't extend THAT far.

Giving a desperate family a helping hand in finding their kid? Fine. Throw myself headfirst into a streetfight to defend someone when I barely know how? Hell no.

 

[Narrator]

Theres always a reason behind someone's behaviour, maybe the voices told them to, maybe it makes them feel good deep down, maybe they'd rather not face the other option/the concequences of it. At the end of the day people do what makes them feel good, or better in some way.