Altruism: Act Of Selflessness

On September 11, 2001, The United States changed forever. On that morning four planes were hijacked and flown into three of the United States largest and important buildings. Two of the planes had flown into the Twin Towers, the stars of New York City. The other plane hit the Pentagon in Washington DC, with the last plane crashing into a field were the passengers did not allow the plane to get hijacked which was heading for The White House. The Twin Towers had around 17,000 people in them when the planes struck, those thousands of people were beginning their workday but instead had to begin fighting for their lives. Out of those 17,000 people, a few of them were willing to risk their lives in selfless acts to help others. While some people feel true selflessness is a farce, altruism demonstrated during the 102 minutes of 9/11 were influenced by relationships, gender, and past life experiences .
Altruism is something that individual are taught and acquire not something they are born with. “Altruism is the …show more content…
Those that believe that altruism is a farce think that altruism is all fate. On September 11, 2001, many people had experienced many acts of fate that caused them to not be in the Twin Towers when they were hit. For those that happen to be in the tower during the tragedy their lives were in danger. The people that survived 9/11 have what is called moral luck. Dana K. Nelkin a professor describes moral luck as “An agent can be correctly treated as an object of moral judgement despite the fact that a significant aspect of what she is assessed for depends on factors beyond her control.”(Nelkin). Moral luck in simpler terms is the luck that many people have when surviving life threatening situations. The luck that many had on 9/11 included those people that had gotten help from those altruistic people. With selfless acts being luck of the