Altruism in Avatar

There's a very poignant part of the plot of James Cameron's film Avatar that I want to discuss. Jake, the story's hero, is a former marine paralyzed from the waist down. He decides to participate in his dead brother's work in the "Avatar" program on the dangerous moon Pandora. Basically his job is to provide armed security to the human scientists who are interacting with the Pandoran natives, known as the Na'vi. The villain Col. Quaritch makes a deal with Jake. In exchange for intelligence information on the Na'vi and their surroundings the Colonel said that he would provide the necessary funding for an operation to allow Jake to walk again. Jake agrees to the Colonel's offer, but he begins to feel conflicted because, through his interaction with the Na'vi, he's grown to love them and their culture. He reaches the decision that preserving the Na'vi civilization is more important than him being able to walk again. Jake's altruism endeared me to him and I find it refreshing to have a hero who acts in such a selfless way.