Recently, I was forced into a situation in which I had to decide between my own well good and the benefit of others. The prize for me was great but the prize for the others would have been just as appealing. Going against everything I've learned about ethics and putting your fellow man first, I became selfish and decided to take what I wanted. Frankly, I don't see anything wrong in that. Sometimes we have to put ourselves first to make sure that we are being treated right and make sure that we live our live to the fullest. There is nothing wrong in that.
One may remember a Friends episode in which Joey declares that we are always doing something for selfish reasons. I agree with this flawed but true philosophy. At the end of the day, it is human nature for us to look out for ourselves instead of others. I began to notice this in the place where true genius meets drama, high school. Friends may look out for one another but at the end of the day, each person makes sure their image isn't ruined and tried to protect their identity at all costs. This was bewildering to me until I realized, I was a huge culprit of that myself. While I was shocked at myself in the beginning, I learned to accept it as I saw that everyone around me was forced into situations that put their interest against the good of others. I studied how some people declared something super noble but instantly turned around and did the opposite.
I observed this on a much bigger stage too. One of the greatest basketball players ever, Kobe Bryant, was described as being a selfish player due to his "me first" attitude and lack of team play. I didn't see anything wrong with Kobe's game though as he was a 5 time champion who turned all of his haters into fans with is awe-inspring play. I continually told myself that sometimes I have to put the interest of others behind me in order too advance something bigger than them. This was the concept I learned from Kobe. Put others behind you in order to lead the team farther. It seems flawed but I realized that this was a great philosophy. Others however may argue that this is a truly pessimistic viewpoint and that it would lead nowhere. For those people, I just have to say, Look back at your achievements. Is there anything you did in which you put yourself before others.
Morals can make or break people but selfishness is something that is inherently inside of our personalities. We all struggle with deciding who's more important, us or others. While it may seem super selfless to pick others, it made us feel warm and good about ourselves. That's also very selfish. We used others for our personal gain. This is important but it does not make us bad people.
