...altruism: a footnote

Mark Twain puts it succinctly:

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. That is the principal difference between a dog and a man."

This is not a reason to stop being nice to people, but it is the reason why being nice to people will never heal this world nor make it a better place. Only the cross of Jesus Christ can ever do that...