Youth camp at YMCA Camp Kern - Essay Example

Application Essay This particular article about burned kids allowed or given the opportunity to be just normal touched me to cite as an example for this essay. This is about a youth camp at t YMCA Camp Kern who took in children ages 9 to 16 coming from 17 states who have been treated at Shriners Hospitals for children. This is a yearly event where children who are undergoing treatment and rehabilitation are given a week to have an opportunity to be just kids and be normal just like every one else.

All their expenses, including transportation to and from the Warren County camp, are paid by donors. The activities in the camp include fishing, archery, swimming, rafting and canoeing. But above all, the camp provides the rare opportunity for scarred children not to worry about their appearance and burn injuries. It helps the children who have been physically and emotionally scarred to cope by having the opportunity to socialize with other children who has been in a similar situation which mitigates the feeling that they are the only one who had been burned.

In this camp, children have the opportunity to talk and ask questions which could have been otherwise difficult in the outside world. They can talk and ask questions: How did you deal with this? What can I do to make this transition better? How can I be more comfortable in my own skin?" This opportunity to socialize addresses the emotional needs of the children who have also been scarred by the injury. It makes them cope better to feel that they are no different than anybody else and that lessens the feeling of isolation.

This article relates to the social concept of altruism on all aspects; be it the donors to the children, the counselors and the camp employees to the children and the children among themselves. There is just so much giving that the camp truly manifests the human being’s capacity for altruism, benevolence, empathy and compassionate towards another fellow creature of this planet; where the donor or helper seeks no other reward or benefit other than to rehabilitate the burned children and help them cope with their scars both physically and emotionally.

In helping people, there are psychological concepts that are often considered for altruism to be initiated; more often by kinship where people will prefer to help one of their own which are typically relatives or by reciprocity where the helper will help with the expectation that the same will be extended by the other party. In this example, the prime motivation for helping the burned children is no other than to relieve them of their distress and just to help for its own sake. The article exudes the exalted capacity of man to lift up his fellow creature and to relieve the other when in distress.

This is manifested in the psychology’s pattern of prosocial behavior where the helper or benefactor does not expect any reward or exchange when they extended altruism or themselves. Though most of the time, especially at this day and age, altruism is often extended to also advance one’s interest through reciprocity in helping another or by mutual help either by cooperative groups or kinship preference, it is a relief to realize that prosocial behaviors still exist. I felt good when I read the article, and had not been for this subject, I wouldn’t have stumbled on it to examine altruism, or man’s capacity for goodness.