I wanted to write on this topic for a really long time because I feel that the quality of selfishness is increasing by the day. It’s really sad to see that in a world where we are encouraged and taught to support one another, we are doing the complete opposite. We are living in a time of the world where education is given a very high priority, yet it is so common to see people behave like they haven’t been to school, in short, educated illiterates.
I’m sorry if I’m coming off too strong or sound really rude, but I genuinely mean what I say. It so so common now to prioritise yourself first. That isn’t wrong, but when prioritising yourself comes at the expense of someone else, it is wrong! Is it hard to think of a situation where we’ve only thought about ourselves? Let me change that question. When was the last time you did something for someone else, maybe even putting yourself in an uncomfortable position because of that? That question will be much more challenging to answer.
Please don’t get me wrong by thinking I’m targeting the people around me. I am equally at fault when it comes to behaving selfishly. When I started to recognise my selfish behaviour, that was when I realised that this is a world problem. It’s a problem we’re all facing. The pandemic is something people all over the world have to deal with, but that doesn’t rule out the fact that all of us deal with a more significant problem, a greater disease, that is the selfishness in our hearts and how we portray that to the world.
The reason I emphasised on education earlier is because it is a way to have a better life. We are taught of the things of the past, things gone wrong and things done right and it gives us an opportunity to learn from it and make sure the future doesn’t go through the same issues faced in the past. That’s what I thought. But no matter where we are or in what time period humans have lived, selfishness is still so prevalent everywhere. It is the reason for conflict, conflict between people, countries and with the rest of the world. It leads to injustice and hatred. And who suffers? The minority, the poor, the already helpless. Who benefits from this? The people who started the whole mess. It happens every time!!
Selfishness also leads to the toxic traits of misogyny and chauvinism. The desire to always stay on top by pushing other people down is a product of selfishness. And what better way to do it than by pinning it against gender. The reason why the traits of misogyny and chauvinism emerge or develop in a person is due to their ego and self-centeredness. It is also boosted by the norms of being in a patriarchal society. The respect a man holds for his mother can be easily forgotten when that same man encounters a woman in the workplace. We change our thinking based on our perspective. We have commonised gender roles so much that seeing someone break out of that stereotype suddenly makes us feel that we have the right to disrespect the other person, just because it doesn’t fit with our own thinking. That is wrong and unacceptable!!
I’ve talked a lot about selfishness and it feels good to put my opinion on the topic out there. Maybe what you’ve read here are just basic things you hear when you talk about selfishness. I may not have come up with some drastic ideas or viewpoints, but sometimes the simple things need to be spoken as they are.
I really hope that people, including myself, really change our outlook towards the world and start becoming stewards of this planet and its inhabitants, rather than brute owners.
I hope you liked reading this and I hope that this post may be made you think about life. Let’s hope for brighter days! Bye!!
