Essay on Personal Life

"Nearly every moment of every day we have the opportunity to give something to someone else - our time, our love, our resources. I have always found more joy in giving when I did not expect anything in return." --- S. Truett Cathy, Chic-Fil-A founder

Stephen Kendrick once said, “Almost every sinful action ever committed can be traced back to a selfish motive. It is the trait we hate in other people but justify in ourselves.” The nature of human selfishness comes in various forms, distinctly different in the eyes of an individual but with similar mindsets. To put differently, there are many definitions defining selfishness, but under the surface, everyone has similar, selfless intentions.

     Also, when a situation arises in which one must make a split decision, does the psychological egoist expect a human to deliberate whether the action is in their self-interest or not? For example, if I see my child run out onto a busy street and I can see that if I run out and grab her I can save her life and if I do not, my child will be squished by a speeding car. Do I, as the egoist would expect, take the time to deliberate that saving my child will result in all kinds of good for both her and I? No, I rush out and grab her in an instant and the good comes later. Now of course it is true that we sometimes get satisfaction and/or good feelings from acting unselfishly, but it would be a post hoc fallacy to say that we perform unselfish acts solely for the sake of that satisfaction. Also, self-interest and an interest for the welfare of others can certainly be bedfellows, and not strange ones. Using the shopkeeper example, he could opt never cheat his customers simply because he knows that honesty is good for business. He could cheat his customers and make a boatload of money, but he knows that it is wrong to cheat and lie to people – it hurts them, is unfair and may make him feel guilty. So, self-interest or selfishness is not

We are all selfish no matter how hard we try to deny it. I learned this by listening to the speech “This is Water”, by David Foster Wallace. In the speech, Wallace discusses that if we actually think about what we think about, then we can make our lives better. He also talks about how the exact same experience means two different things to two different people based on their beliefs. Another thing he talks about is that we are all self-centered and tend to interpret life just thinking about ourselves. I completely agree with Wallace’s ideas of people being self-centered and also that people give different meanings to the exact same thing, because they make sense and also because that is how we all think, but no one wants to accept it.

Bartel (1976) defines prosocial behaviour as ‘behaviour that intentionally helps or benefits another person’. Batson (1987) defines altruism as ‘helping another person for no reward, and even at some cost to oneself.’ This definition of altruism seemingly depicts the behaviour as selfless, however there is a wealth of research which suggests that this is not the case.

There are many things in our lives that we take for granted, such as food and clothing that are not accessible to a big portion of the population. This surplus of things that most of us have can easily be given to people who are in dire need of them. Personally, I had an abundance of clothes from when I was younger. They were things I was never going to wear again and were simply being stored, unused. Knowing that, I decided to donate the clothes to an organization that will then donate it to people who need it. My contribution was going to help someone out there in need and that felt significant. Food is also something that a lot of people do not have access to. From my peers, I notice that a

Donating or giving something isn’t really that hard some people just look at it as its their fault, or they chose to be like this and in some cases I believe that is true but in some other cases I feel like there are people from day 1 who struggle and aren’t equipped enough to get a job to support a family or get a great education to help them.

Altruism refers to the concern for the welfare and well being of others without personal gains or

If I no what i’m doing I’ll help out.I help out with anything, like for example if I have money & a homeless person ask for money I will help them out & give them like two or three dollars if I have it.I will help anyone out if they ask. I am not selfish. I was raise to be kind to others, no matter they are not. I just can’t sit there & no if somebody in need of help I want help them, I help.

Selfishness is defined as the stinginess resulting from a concern of your own welfare and the disregard of others. Selfishness, once passing a certain level, is seen as a character flaw by many people. Where does selfishness come from? Is it a trait in which as humans we pick up over time, or is it an animalistic trait in which we are born with and have no control over? Author Mark Sundeen tells us the story of Daniel Suelo, in the book The Man Who Quit Money. Daniel Suelo was a mid-aged man, who decided to drop everything and live on his own without the use of money; he would no longer live the typical American lifestyle and survive strictly on the kindness of others and the leftovers he could find in dumpsters.

Another motive of altruism to gain indirect returns is the egoistic motives. It is suggested by Mandeville (1732), where a person who is in a situation that causes personal distress would behave altruistically to relieve that particular distress.

Whether we are here to help others is a question I've often asked myself, and a question I will not be able to answer while I am still here on earth. Perhaps before I even consider that question, however, I should wonder whether we even can be here to help others: is selflessness really possible? Or is "altruism" merely doing things for others in order to feel good about ourselves? If human altruism exists, how does our neural system deal with it?

Selfishness means acting in one's rational self-interest. Contrary to popular opinion, all healthy individuals are selfish. Choosing to pursue the career of your choice is selfish. Choosing to have children—or not to have children—is selfish. Insisting on freedom and individual rights, rather than living under a dictatorship, is selfish. Indeed, even ordinary behaviors such as breathing, eating and avoiding an oncoming car when crossing the street are selfish acts. Without selfishness, none o f us would survive the day—much less a lifetime.

Selfishness surrounds us in everything we do because it is human nature to be selfish. Without selfishness we would not be able to take care of ourselves and ensure that we are fed and all our needs are fulfilled. Many people and the surrounding environment suffer because of selfishness but without it the reality

Ruthless pursuit of self interest is a concept which can be explained by understanding the definition of the key words of ruthless and self interest. Ruthless is defined as “feeling or showing no mercy; hardhearted” by Collins English Dictionary-Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © Willian Collins Sons & Co.Ltd.1979,1986 © HarperCollins , Publishers 1998,2000,2003,2005,2006,2007,2009,2012 whereas self interest is defined as “ the act or an instance of pursuing one’s own interest” by Collins English Dictionary-Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © Willian Collins Sons & Co.Ltd.1979,1986 © HarperCollins , Publishers 1998,2000,2003,2005,2006,2007,2009,2012.