Everyone Chooses to Be Selfish or Altruistic

I never gave much thought to either of these before this class, but upon reading articles and research I believe that everyone is a little of both whether to be more egoistic or altruistic, the choice depends on the person and the circumstances in how they live their lives. If a person has everyday needs that are not being met might be a bit more egoistic to live from one day to the next. And on the other hand, if a person who can meet their needs in life then they can afford to be more altruistic.

No one can worry about meeting everybody’s needs until they have met their own needs, once that goal is met then they are ready to lend a helping hand to others.

Altruism is not putting you first but you willing to give your time, money, or making an effort for others. It is a principle and moral practice for happiness for other humans or even animals which gives a quality of life for you and others not only in the material sense but also spiritual.

It’s a behavior that describes a person’s acts of kindness without looking for any type of benefits when a person shows selfless acts of love to others.

The current events of today have shown many acts of kindness from people not wanting anything in return, giving out water, food, medical supplies, and most importantly taking care of the seniors in the world. I guess that many of these people would have never lifted a finger to help others until they realized that something needed to be done so why not me.

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I believe that this trait is in all of us some more than others but it takes a crisis to bring it out in all of us.

I always knew that I held this trait but never really went out of my way to help anyone unless they asked for my help. The Coronavirus has changed me to become a better person and has me wanted to help people in any way that I can, being a senior citizen I can get food delivery from Three Square and other food pantries. Looking in my cabinets and freezer I realize that I didn’t need that much food. I started to think of ways that I could help others without putting my health at risk, what I decided to do was go to my neighbors and asked how could I help them, many said they were ok at first but as time went on they started to reach out to me asking if I had potatoes, bread, eggs, etc.

I have never felt the feelings that rush through me on the first day of helping one of my neighbors the same person that I only said “Hello” or “ Good Morning” in the past. I didn’t want anything in return nor did I ask to barter, I just wanted to give from my heart and it felt good.

Egoism means the quality of being over the top, an excessively self-centered person, very selfish. If I was a self-centered, conceited person then I would have done the opposite by keeping my food my overstocked pantry and freezer to myself, I would not have reached out to my neighbors, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought as to if they need food or water or if their pets had food.

According to differencebetween.com, these both can be seen as two extremes of human being’s traits, one the quality of being a self-centered person and the other a quality of a person being completely selfless, looking for nothing in return, no pat on the back.

The philosopher Thomas Hobbes said that all humans are born naturally selfish, but no one can claim that everyone is egoistic, and to understand why and why not, you have to understand the concept of altruism. As mentioned earlier altruism is an unselfish act when someone puts their needs and wants before themselves, being the opposite of egoism. I believe for a person to have the trait of a strong moral obligation and some type of emotional attachment that makes that person altruistic.

Another good example of altruism would be if I were to see someone almost get hit by a car running a red light and I rushed to grab them, this person is a stranger to me, I risked my life this would be considered altruism. Many studies are being done by psychologists trying to understand why some people engage in these two types of behavior.

In conclusion, no one can explain why some people have the traits of egoism or altruism, maybe it is because of the environment they were raised, maybe something that happens in their lives that would make them become a person with egoism or altruism. Each individual has the decision on how they want to live their lives, they either live selfish and alone and not be willing to give a helping hand to anyone that might need help or they can be the type of person who goes above and beyond by helping others without looking for anything in return.

As for me, I choose to live my life doing good and going above and beyond to help other human beings and to do so without looking for anything in return.