Essay 2: Selfishness

One of the basest of all human qualities is selfishness. It is true that there is a natural tendency for everyone to be selfish. But if we become excessively selfish, then we become anti-social. Harmony and happiness in human society depend on the degree of restraint we place on this quality os selfishness. When we become extremely selfish, we care only for our own interests and comforts. We begin to ignore the rights of others. In other words we become very in considerate of our fellow-beings. We try to make our own life happy and comfortable one. To achive this we are prepared to bring hardship and inconvenience to other people. We are engaged in an exclusive and relentless pursuit to attain our own ambitions and desires. It is this type of man who proclaims, "I am my own world."
This tendency can be the cause of unhappiness and discontentment to others. When we begin to act in an extremely selfish way we delibrately tread on the rights of other people. This can create tensions and quarrels in society. History abounds in examples of dictators who because of their selfishness, clung on to personal power and prestige, plunging the world into war and misery.

Excessive selfishness is one reason for degeneration of the human soul. When it is within our power to extend some form of help to others, if we are extremely selfish we withold such assistance. This is one facet of selfishness. The extremely selfish person will not hesitate to depict other people in dark colours in order to present his personal picture in a bright shade by way of contrast. This is the second harmful aspect of selfishness.

Selfishness is the negation of the aims of education. One of the cardinal principles of principles of education is to enable the individual to think in terms of his fellow citizens. The individual must be trained to seek not only his own welfare but also that of his fellow human beings. If at an early age a child does not show an inclination to share his things with others, then unless taht tendency is corrected, such a child may grow up a selfish person. This is a negation of our educational aims. By gradually overcoming selfishness we become civilised individuals.

The pages of history are adorned with named of persons who have achieved greatness and immortality by overcoming selfishness ans sacrificing their time and lives for the service of the community in which they have lived or for the sake of humanity in general. It is by restraining the element of selfishness that the human soul ennobles itself.

We live in an age of democracy which stands for the rights of individuals. In as much as a selfish person tends to disregard the just rights of other people, he act againts the basic concept of democracy. In so far as he does not show any consideration for others, he acts against the spirit of tolerance in democracy. selfishness is thus a negation of the democratic principles of our lives. Selfishness makes a man ruthless and mean.