My Name Is Earl

Lately, Leesa and I have been working our way through the TV series My Name Is Earl. We're about 1/3 of the way through the 2nd season now, and it's a really great show. The basic premise is that Earl is a criminal, and his life sucks. Finally, he thinks he gets a break when he wins $100,000 in the lotto, but while he is celebrating, he gets hit by a car and the ticket floats away. Laying in his hospital room, he sees Carson Daly on TV explaining that the reason his life is so great is good karma. Do good things, good things'll happen to you. Do bad things, and bad things happen to you. Earl makes a list of all the bad things he's ever done, and decides to make up for each and every one of them. Of course, as he starts his list, his luck turns around and good things start to happen to him.

But it got me thinking - is Earl really being altruistic in crossing things off his list, or is he just acting out of enlightened self interest? If you do good things so that good things happen to you, aren't you really just acting out of your own best interests? I mean, if you're only doing it for the reward, I think it's far from altruistic. You're not doing it because it's the right thing to do, you're just doing it to help yourself out. Now, typically Earl does not expect anything back from the people he is making amends with, it still seems like he is doing it so that HIS life is better, not theirs. Their lives are bettered, of course, but that seems like just a consequence of his bettering his own life.

Don't get me wrong, I love the show, and Earl seems like a good guy, but in the end, maybe he isn't the altruist we all thought.