Being selfish is the best thing you can do for yourself and for others. What does selfishness mean? I’ve heard it means that you steal from others. that you pursue your own ends at the expense of others.
I don’t want any of that, but I still consider myself selfish. I don’t see selfishness as a win/lose scenario. I see it as a win/win. I would not steal because I don’t want a win/lose scenario.
I’ve even heard that selfishness is tat you disregard what others want. This might be closer to what I believe. More often than not, I take what others want into consideration, but I often disregard it. I often listen to my friends, but I rarely heed the wants of strangers. The problem is that there are nearly infinite strangers with almost unlimited wants. I draw the line at my friends. Even then it’s not a sure shot.
I personally, enjoy helping my friends. I don’t ever expect a favor in return and I don’t do favors just to even the score. I enjoy pouring my time and energy into my network. One nice consequence is that I’m convinced that I will eventually see the benefit. That’s not why I do it. I would help my friends even if I never see a favor again.
When it comes to strangers, I will try to find a win win solution and I’m very reluctant to poor my time and energy into a network of strangers. Part of it is that I vetted my friends and I made sure they are not bad people. But when you help strangers, you are taking a chance that you are helping bad people.
For instance, when I’m at McDonald’s, I’ll offer them money if they are willing to give me fries. I wouldn’t just give them money and I certainly wouldn’t expect them to just give me fries.
I’m not against doing nice things for other people, as long as it costs me basically nothing. For instance, when I’m on a plane, and someone asks to switch seats with them. I’ll do it. I don’t care, it’s all the same to me. But if i was traveling with a friend? I would say no.