Considering that the biggest technology companies are advertisers, data-collectors and shopping oriented, my initial feeling is "absolutely not".

But it's also hard to get people engaged to trying to help the elderly, until they see the struggle in front of them. Which I'm sure many don't.

I used to work as a elderly-care assistant in Sweden, and while helping with medicin, cleaning and other things are important, most of the people just want to have some company once in a while, and was incredibly grateful for being able to have a honest conversation with a non-doctor.

So my recommendation would be to reach out to elderly-care homes in NYC, and ask them if they need help with basic tasks on weekends/evenings. With that, you'll get time to interact with them as well (although, maybe all this works differently in the US, I have no idea).

What does both of you identifying as christian have to do with anything? Are non-christians less likely to do empathetic things?

But the commentor's claims seem limited to Christianity as a motivator for their behavior, which is hardly objectionable and a very different thing from your challenge-reading of their words.

No, yeah.

> There's a pernicious narrative the United States that christianity has a monopoly on positive, moral behavior /.../ it doesn't take long to find examples of christianity creating atrocious behavior

Sure. These are not the commenter's claims, though, so it's odd that they're what you're litigating.

"We did a charitable thing as an expression of / motivated by our faith" is orthogonal to whether some portion of US Christians are either parochial in their moral philosophy or even not particularly good people.

Claiming otherwise doesn't make it look like the they're the one with a hobby horse or over-evangelical approach.

It's sure implied by that wording. I think the term that's en vogue these days is microaggression. The exact words "because only christians would do something empathetic on a first date" weren't used, but the implication is there.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/oct/30/religious-p...

but saying christians visit the elderly for a first date does not necessarily imply nobody but christians are generous in any way.

And there it is.

While I'm sure a study conducted by the "Institute on Faith & Giving" and published by a Moonie paper is objective it misses quite a bit by assuming that donating to charity is the only measure of empathy or generosity.

https://www.philanthropy.com/article/America-s-Generosity-Di...

Take a look a the states that rank towards the bottom of the list (mostly New England) and those that rank at the top (e.g. Alabama). Or take a look at how empathy is framed as a McCain vs Obama thing. What's missing from that sort of narrative is that Obama pushed government welfare where McCain fought it, that Massachusetts will have far more mature safety nets than Alabama. Supporting universal access to health care is no less empathetic than donating to a religious charity, the only difference is in who you trust to dole out the resources.

Sure, and there are plenty of welfare programs that predate Obama. Welfare programs that were, in large part, created by elected officials.

I have and love many family members and friends who aren't Christian who of course have done similarly empathetic things out of the goodness of their heart; I'm sure we can all name such people in our lives - we should share their stories too.

I really appreciate the author and in light of this story, all the health care employees who work tirelessly to support and care for the ailing and downtrodden. This is what "loving your neighbor as you would love yourself" means.

I'm sorry for what your family is going through. It took a profound toll on our family, too.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies

[1] https://www.askumbrella.com/