Look at all these great things I do -- over and above what normal people do, in fact -- so I must be a great person, right?
I've heard rumors of groups of people falling so hard into this trap that they start trying to one-up each other by randomly donating a kidney. "After all, you can mostly live with just one..."
Looks like this kind of competition is beneficial to society—to the point of granting a new lease of life to gravely ill people—and should be encouraged.
There are levels of self-sacrifice that are way beyond what is productive. Giving up a vital organ for someone close is one thing, being a post mortem donor is great, but being peer pressured into putting your own life at risk is no better than being peer pressured into donating all of your productive assets to a cult leader. One person benefits but the net is negative.
I've heard rumors of groups of people falling so hard into this trap that they start trying to one-up each other by randomly donating a kidney. "After all, you can mostly live with just one..."