| Summary: | In short, altruistic behavior is voluntary, unrewarded helping of another, with 'heroic' altruism including a high degree of risk or self-sacrifice. 'Do Unto Others' tells us that altruism begins in infancy as an innate predisposition and is nurtured in a healthy relationship with ones parents. The concentric influences of peers, school, community, and society reinforce and expand the young persons altruistic qualities, which can then become internalized normocentric values. To realize the force of these normocentric values, consider the reaction of two communities to the treatment of Ryan White, the courageous teenager who contracted AIDS from a transfusion of blood in the mid-1980s. When his disease became known, Ryans home town of Kokomo, Indiana ostracized him. Students harassed him in the hallways and on the sidewalks, parents withdrew their children from school, and school officials barred him from attending classes. Ultimately, Ryan left Kokomo and moved to Cicero, Indiana, where the townspeople and the students and teachers in his high school welcomed him and his family warmly.
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