New Studies Show Chimps to Be Altruistic

A corrupt congressman sentenced to eight years; Iran determined to build a nuclear bomb, a Christian shrine in Nazareth is attacked; a Shiite mosque in Iraq is destroyed; Gary Glitter convicted of child molestation; a child is abducted; a woman leaves her toddlers home alone to attend a Jerry Springer taping -- reading the news gives a person no hope for the human condition.

But then I see a teenager help an old lady cross the street or a man give up his bus seat to a pregnant woman, and a glimmer of hope sparks in my soul. Maybe if we all get along and sing Kumbaya, we might be able to avert Armageddon.

Small acts of altruism are what separates us from wild beasts who are ruled by their passions.

When I'm feeling low or depressed, sometimes I perform a good deed to lift my spirits. If we only lived by the "Golden Rule", reading the news would not be an exercise in depression and futility.

But a new study by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology shows that chimpanzees understand when cooperation is needed and help each other to achieve goals. And chimps are even willing to cooperate without hope of reward.

What a bummer, when I'm helping out in a soup kitchen, I'm no better than your average chimp, but at least I'm not neglecting children to attend the Jerry Springer Show.

I guess the moral of this essay is that we should strive to be more like chimps and less like the type of individuals who dominate the headlines.