We are all selfish

I’ve been wanting to post this entry for quite some time now, but I really just didn’t find the opportunity. But thanks to an entry by FF i thought that now would be some approriate time to put this up. You see my point of view in life is very cynical, guess I haven’t really had much nice things happen to me…well at least lately la anyway (lets no count the notebook). I believe that all man on earth are selfish and will never change (erm man as in the human race yah), and I believe that this is true to a certain extent. This was what I told my sister and what she told me in return manage to shed some light ( although you could consider it a very dim light) into my point of view and how is it that I am wrong. You see there was once a time when my sister used to think as I did. And strangely enough I never thought that would happen cause we have always been very different from each other, and I find it shocking that I may have followed the exact same path that my sister once took some years ago. My sister pointed out that every parent would teach their child to do the right thing to understand and learn how to evaluate the situation and then identify which is right and which is wrong (but I’m quite sure there are some parents who never teach their child at all). Because of that teaching we are able to understand what is right and what is wrong, therefore if you see some blind person crossing a road and there is a car speeding the bang that person down, you will be able to identify the intention of the car and therefore warn (or save) the person that is about to be hit. Why? Well obviously because it is the right thing to do. So logically we are able to process that thought and we know which is the right course of action to take. My sister however was kind enough to enlighten me further by adding that although we know this in our heart and in our mind where we fall short is in the execution phase. That would mean, although we know that we were suppose to shout at the idiot crossing the road with something like ‘Oit get off the fucking road, that car is gonna hit you!!!’, we somehow just stand there and shut the fuck up. So we just kinda fall short in action.

After being told of that example from my sister I went home to think about what she has said and whether it is true or not. After much thought I concluded that it is indeed true, yes I know what to do and I know wrong from right. But doing it is another story all together. Maybe that first example was a bit bad to compare with, I’ll give you another one. If you see a beggar by the roadside will you give him money? I mean you know that is the right thing to do after all there is that saying ‘give and you shall receive’. And inspite of that we still refuse to donate to some beggar for petty reasons like oh what if he goes and buys some drugs with the money I gave him. But how will you ever know that, you definitely won’t. So my conclusion to this is man is indeed born selfish, our conscience may know how to differentiate right from wrong, but failing to execute what we were suppose to do is just as guilty and doesn’t serve as an excuse as to why you didn’t act unselfishly. Here is another example, in the process of courtship both parties will always refrain from giving their all…why? Because they are afraid that they might get hurt in the event that the other person might reject him/her advances. Now tell me isn’t that a very unselfish act. Bearing that in mind, we tend to do in naturally and its not like as if there was a switch that could just turn off or on to say ‘Oh I’ll give it my all this time’ or ‘Hrm, I think I should protect myself from getting hurt’. You see the thing is we can’t because of our own selfish nature. Still not convinced, ok…here is a question that I learnt from watching a crappy show ‘Bulletproof Monk’. There was a picture of a lady and a child on their knees and a man holding an AK-47 assault rifle to their heads about to fire. Now if I were to throw you into that picture whom would you rather be? The one that’s about to do the shooting? Or the one that’s about to be shot? I know which answer i will choose, and i'm sure everyone else would choose the same answer as me.

I continued this discussion with a buddy of mine not too long ago, and i was shocked as to what he had to say. He said that even if you had donated some money to the begger by the side of the road knowing that it is the last bit of money you have and you'd have to walk home after that is still being selfish. Now i bet you're like going WTF right now ain't cha. The reason behind his judgement is this, by donating money you are actually fulfilling a subconscious need inside of you to be satisfied...so therefore you are still thinking of your own needs first. I laughed when i heard that, i mean its true...think about it, you don't give then you feel guilty, but if you give then you get happy because you know you did something good. So either way its kinda like a lose lose situation. But like what he and i both agree that there are maybe a few levels of selfishness, and certain levels are acceptable and even applauded by society. So how do we escape being selfish? Well you can't really, cause even if you went out of your way and be a hermit living in seclusion somewhere in a remote mountain you are still being selfish...not to others, but to yourself....selfish to your own needs.