Red Goblin

My definition that I have found (Collins New English Dictionary) states "altruism is an unselfish concern for the welfare of others". Nothing about sacrifice!

That particular idea happens to be the legal framework in England for protecting children from people that abuse them. However if there was no government then I am trying to understand who would do this. I have just finished reading Atlas Shrugged and where on one hand I find it extremely thought provoking I have many unanswered questions. For example you discover that a child who lives nearby is being physically and sexually abused by a member of his/her family. Now you know that this is happening don't you think that you have a moral duty to stop this abuse by telling the police. If the police investigated and ended up removing the child they would have to either place the child somewhere else or ensure that the abuser was no longer living in the home. Who would do this as someone might have to visit this family to ensure that the child was not in further danger for sometime. A private agency could do this but it would have to be based on our charity. In fact prior to the current legal framework in the UK there were charities. Unfortunately they have and continue to be less effective at protecting children. They tend to have the most expensive offices (where most of the charity money goes it seems) and generally speaking the least able staff at doing the job properly, in my experience. I am also struggling on Rand's denial of our emotions as I see that this is very much what makes us human. If we were completely rational then we would be like Mr Spock (star trek) Of course we need to be able to control our emotions but we have these feelings to enable us to survive. But I'll find another discussion somewhere in the forum to discuss that one.

It is the duty of us all to ensure that children, who unlike adults are unable to defend themselves, are protected from abusers and brought up in a way that enables them to have the opportunity of achieving a reasonable standard of health and development.