Virtue or Sin: Selfishness

Selfishness is as much a part of you as it is a part of me. Selfishness is, undeniably, a human trait through and through. Each and every one of us are selfish; selfish against our best friends, selfish against our worst enemies. Selfish for materialistic wants, and selfish for emotional attention. No matter what kind of selfishness there is, we have it all.

There is no person on this planet who has true "altruism". Well, except for Jesus Christ, but that is water infested with sharks: a place I'm not going to go into.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying all of us are spendthrifts and selfish bastards that we clutch at our wallets everytime the word "lend" and "borrow" even floats through the air. No, unfortunately, we're not that selfish. Oh, yeah, you didn't make a mistake. I did just say that it was unfortunate that people are not all selfish.

You see, if everyone on the face of this planet was 100% selfish, then life would be so easy. We won't need to worry about whether we need to sacrifice our time for others. We won't ever need to go, "oh, they have their exams coming up, better put off that pool session I want so badly for now." We'll just drag all our friends out, and have fun whenever we want to, with no thought at all for their feelings, their mood, and their wants. It'll be all about us.

Isn't that nice?

Who cares, anyway, about other people's wants. I'd really rather be with my girlfriend all day long. So, all of you mutual friends, buzz the fuck off and go stick your faces up a rubbish chute... until I need you, that is. Who cares, anyway, about other people's needs. I'd really rather be with my girlfriend 24/7, so she can jolly well put her entire fucking life on hold and be at my side when I want her to be, and to hell with toilet breaks.

Who cares, anyway, about whether those starving children in Afghanistan, or whatever the fuck country is starving, needs food. I want my McDonalds, so I'll go out and eat as much as I want, and if I want to, I'll throw away all that I don't want. Who cares.

Hey, if you have the freedom to not care, if you have the freedom to unfetter yourself from those pesky "responsibilities" and "considerations", wouldn't life be so much better and easier? You can do what you like, whenever you like, however long you like, and to hell with everything else. All that matters is you. You.

Oh yeah, such a Utopia is impossible. I know its impossible, and I'm not going to deny it. Even looking at it logically, no two person can be 100% selfish, because being 100% selfish means that everyone else's feelings must take second place to your own; that condition alone cannot be satisfied. It cannot happen; a paradox. Blah blah. Impossible.

But think about it. Just imagine it for one second. That you and you alone can be 100% selfish, and everyone else in existence has to attend to your every need and care. Don't deny your feelings now, it is something that is nice. It IS something you want, deep in your heart; impossible though it may be. In each and everyone of us lies the urge to just say, "Everyone else's problems are not mine, so just fuck off." It may be actively suppressed, or maybe that urge never surfaced for you. But it exists. There will be times, if you haven't already experienced it, that you will want to just forget the world exists, and to just be selfish. Nothing else, just be selfish, 100%, for that one moment.

Now, before we proceed on to examine these feelings, shall we take a look at what we humans, as a general consensus, have agreed to define "selfishness" as?

Courtesy of www.dictionary.com

self·ish /ˈsɛlfɪʃ/
- adjective
1.
devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.
2.
characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself: selfish motives.

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Selfishness is, I quote, being "concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others."

In otherwords; taking care of oneself without caring whether the act of "taking care of oneself" will affect other people, be it negatively or positively. You tell me, is that such a nasty thing to do? Is being selfish all that undesirable afterall? It is inconsiderate, yes, we're not caring about others, implying we feel we are superior to others. Our "interests, benefits, welfare etc" must come before other people's, yes.

Survival of the fittest, dear. Survival is inconsiderate. The wolf isn't going to politely ask the lion, "Hey, dude, will me eating this deer and not sharing it with you hurt your feelings?" The hunter isn't going to tell the elephant, "Hey, dudette, your children are out playing after a long day walking so I'll hunt them tomorrow." Do you think the hunter cares what the elephant babies have been doing all day? Do you think the wolf cares if the lion will become emotionally scarred?

Do you really think I care about you?

Well, yeah, I do care; I do care about you all, my friends and all.. but let me tell you, when push comes to shove, I'm gonna look after my own first. I'm not going to tell the soldier shooting at me, "Hey, I know you got a kid and a wife at home, so I'll let you live and you can shoot me instead." If you're shooting at me, I'm so gonna take this knife and plunge it into your eyeballs and your nostrils and your mouth and your ears.

Selfishness is not a bad thing, people. Selfishness is a human trait, and is thus neither "virtuous" nor "sinful". A survival reflex, if you will.

So here comes the big "Q". The big question. Why do people be selfish, even when their lives are not at stake? Why? Its a human trait, isn't it? Its a survival reflex, isn't it? What has that two dollars you refuse to lend me gotta do with your survival when you've got another twenty bucks in your wallet? What has giving me the attention I crave for a short five minutes got to do with your survival when you're lying on your own bed in boredom anyway? Is it a "sin", then, to be "selfish" when you're not being threatened with imminent death?

My answer? Oh, you know my answer already. Its the answer that lurks around your own heart. No, being selfish, even when there is no danger of an imminent heart failure, or automobile accident, or fire-outbreak, or virulous disease, or machete-wielding fanatics bursting into the room you're sitting in staring at the computer at... is not a "sin" in any sense of the word. Well, okay, so I don't really know the meanings of all the senses of the word "sin", but I don't care. The point is, its not a bad thing to be selfish, even when you're not about to die.

You see, selfishness is a survival reflex; ie. it only crops up when your instincts realise the situation is one you cannot afford to repeat over and over in the long term. You have twenty-two dollars. Lending two isn't a big deal; but if a hundred of your friends asked you to? And you gave in all the time? Do you think your survival will be threatened, then? What about if every single attention-seeking leech clamped onto you to ask for "just five minutes"? Idling at your bed or not, its not going to lengthen your life-span any.

When people come to you with their problems, you want to help them; but sometimes, when it gets just abit much... you want to shut them out and say, "just fuck off". Is that a bad thing? Are you being 'selfish'?

Going by the definition, yes, it is selfish to do that; but its not wrong either.

So, then, is it selfish of me when I want you to listen to me whenever I have a problem? Maybe it is, but my own instincts are telling me, I cannot handle so many of such circumstances without someone to talk to. Therefore, I go looking for someone to talk to. It is selfish of me... but is it wrong?

Something's gotta give, dude. One man's victory is another's loss. Are you going to constantly answer the call for emotional support, or are you going to indulge in your selfishness, your survival reflex, to be "selfish"? Will you be able to know when to choose between which?

When push comes to shove... will you be selfish, or considerate?

Is it a virtue, or a sin?

Looking to the future~
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