ABSTRACT
One proverbial human adage that has remained with us over the ages is: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” On the one hand, this adage affirms that good intentions without action will take us to a place called “hell.” On the other hand, it also affirms that acting on our good intentions is no guarantee that we will achieve the intended results (i.e. what we meant to achieve). The reality of acting is such that there can be unintended consequences—some bad, and some pleasant surprises. And there is more. Ivan Illich (1968), an Austrian philosopher, social critic of contemporary Western institutions, and a Roman Catholic priest, went so far as to say “to hell with good intentions” (Illich, 1968, Para. 5). Within the context of his time, he questioned the good intentions of volunteer “mission vacations” among the poor Mexicans, “by well-off U.S. students” (Para. 3) from three fronts. First, he questioned the motives of those who come to do good among poor Mexicans while at the same time being blind “to much worse poverty at home” (Illich, 1968, Para. 3) and to the demands for social justice and freedom by African-Americans in their own country. Second, he questioned the motives of student-volunteers who were blind to their own pretentiousness in imposing their values and their benevolence in a foreign land. Third, he wondered if they were there to do good or simply to feel good about themselves that they had done something benevolent.
