No good deed shall go unpunished

Have you done a single good deed today?
Something as simple as helping an old lady cross the street, turning off your neighbours bike light after she'd forgotten to switch it off, or anything like that?

People are losing touch with one another. Even though we are communicating with eachother in more ways than we ever thought possible, people are becoming more and more self-centered, anonymous and perhaps even xenofobic.
If you don't know someone, you don't talk to them, greet them... Hell, they might as well not exist.

A while ago, I was out taking a walk. I came across an elderly gentleman. The streets were empty except for the two of us. In passing, I greeted him, giving him a smile and a 'good afternoon'.
In return, I got a startled and frightened look, as if I just threatened him into giving me his wallet.
The sad thing is, it has become normal to basically ignore each other, to just look out for one's own. Greeting someone while out on a walk has become an abberation instead of the norm.
People are afraid of eachother. You are expected to act like a self-centered asshole, and because everyone assumes everyone else does so, they do so too. The perfect example of a vicious cycle, sustaining itself until eventually it collapses.

Back to my earlier point. Have you done a good deed today? A good deed doesn't have to be something big. Anything that brings a smile to someone's face will do. The point is to break the vicious cycle I mentioned above.
If evil begets evil, then isn't it common sense to say good begets good? If you stop at a pedestrian crossing to let someone cross the street, which brings a small spark of happiness to that person, who in turn does something good for someone else, that means you've made a difference.
You might never notice the repercussions of your action yourself, but you will have had a slight positive influence on someone's life. Instead of getting irritated because he had to wait until a gap opened in traffic, you made someone happy by going against the norm, by not thinking of yourself first, but thinking of others too. Hopefully that positive effect will carry through, and who knows... that person might just do something similar for someone else.

My point? Don't just accept how the world is, if it's not something you can live with. Try to change it! The smallest change can have the biggest impact. Don't let yourself get jaded, don't let yourself get dulled down. Think about your actions, think about your position in live. One person can make a difference. Perhaps not on a global scale, perhaps not on a national scale, but a positive change is always worthwhile, no matter how small.
I for one will go on trying to be a positive influence for those around me, regardless of whether I know them or not. If I can make even one person a day consider life a bit more positively, I'll consider that a good day.