What makes a martyr?

What kind of person sacrifices everything for a stranger? What would make a man or woman give up everything--family, friends, home, comfort, even their own life--for a person or a group that he or she has never met and might never meet?

What does it take to become a martyr? A real martyr--not a poseur, someone who shouts "Look at me, am I not wonderful, am I not the morally superior! "--but someone who honestly pursues a goal without caring about the cost to themselves or to the lack or any reward; what makes such a person?

I have an image of a character in my mind--a man who gives up everything, travels far from home, and great risk to his own life and sanity, all for a group of people who he has never met, who may regard him with hostility (if not outright violence)--and I am struggling to understand the why of this character. If I don't know the why, how can I know what he will do during moments of crisis?

Dive Bomber Attack

What is it about a new car that attracts birds to shit on them?

*Sigh*

I miss the hawks that used to circle my end of the neighborhood; ever since the crows drove them off, I've noticed lots more bird plop on the cars around my condo. I keep a bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towels in the car all the time--I have to wipe off the crap every morning. The hawks kept the bird population in check, and without them its an avian crapfest around here.

Speaking of wanton bowel movements, what in the world motivates someone to excrete in public? During the Celtics victory parade, we had both men and women using the Plaza as an open latrine. Seriously--WTF? If this is a society without shame, then I'm of the opinion that a little puritanism might be a good thing. I doubt that the pinnacle of feminism is a woman squatting in public--I expect that sort of behavior from men.

(Great, now I sound like a crotchety old man.)