When most people hear the word "selfish," the first thing that comes to mind is a greedy person with no consideration for anyone but themselves. That one person believes that the whole world is focused on them and only them, with little to no attention to anybody else. However, what if I told you that selfishness is a good thing?

The idea may be ludicrous to some people, and may also come off as ridiculous, but selfishness is indeed a good thing. Eating food, taking medicine and even loving somebody are all considered selfish acts do you know why? Because they are all acts you perform because you find it necessary to your growth as a person. There is not a single thing anyone can do that cannot be in regards to the self–even helping somebody else can be considered a selfish act. Even as you are pulling somebody out of a lake to save them from drowning, or pull somebody out of a burning building you have made the conscious decision, weighed all the pros and cons on your behalf. No matter what, you expect to get something out of it, whether it’s recognition for your good deed or the knowledge that the person is safe, you will always seek something out of whatever it is you’re doing. But that is the beauty of it, this means that you are in touch with what you want. Of course, some deeds are more valorous than others, but nobody said that humans are angels through and through.

That old saying, “God helps those who help themselves,” could not be any more misleading; it should say, “Those who help themselves, help themselves.” In turn, those who do help themselves help others by not having to rely on others for their problems to be solved. A true sign of character development and maturity is independence, although that doesn’t mean you can’t reach out and call for help every now and then, just don’t expect it to be a regular aspect of one’s life. However, if one chooses to devote their lives in the aid of others, there is no quarrel about that, but unless those they help realize they need to start helping themselves, they will look at that person as the means to end their problems. We need a degree of selfishness in our society, not to encourage greed, but to encourage productivity in ourselves.

Yet, neither does that mean that we can go about doing whatever we want. There must be rules in place so that nobody uses their selfishness to gain in the wake of somebody else’s loss. That is why we have money: it wouldn’t be fair to produce something and not receive some sort of compensation for it (unless helping somebody is what you want to do, but here I’m talking in an economical scenario). Rules and laws are enacted so that we do not take advantage of one another, there must be a system of trade in place so as to ensure that both parties get due compensation. However, it is that same selfishness that would allow a small business owner to set up shop, sell whatever he wanted, and set a reasonable price for it. It is the principle of his selfishness that helps put money in his pockets as well as the coffers of his government, it is the principles of selfishness that allows that shop owner to make money however he wants to, and it is the principle of selfishness that allows the customer to exchange money for whatever goods he’s selling.

Of course, there is a limit to how far selfishness can go, and that is when you are deliberately hurting someone in order to achieve your own ends. For the burglar, the thief or the murder, they may have plans of their own and their own motivations, but these are people who deliberately hurt people to get what they want; and they do it again and again because what they want is only temporary. Of course, there are burglars, thieves and other criminals in high positions of power, who only exhort that power for their own means, but that is why we have laws in place, to make sure these kinds of things don’t happen. It may be up to a person to pursue their own individual agendas, but ethics and morality are not subjective, the same goes for selfishness.

Especially in these troubling times, one might not want to think of themselves as selfish for fear of negative retribution. But, we cannot deny that we are ourselves, and we need certain things to get by in life, but when we have those things to get by do we just quit or give up? No, we yearn for something more, power, glory, virtue or anything that can give purpose to our existence.

Martin Heidegger, believed that there is an extension to ourselves that is fully immersed in the world around us and recognizes its own being, to which he referred to this as the dasein. This dasein’s main purpose is to help us come to terms with our own mortalities and death, yet gives us the certainty that we are indeed authentic beings ourselves, since nobody can die our own deaths but ourselves. Authentic and selfish living is a mere attitude which doesn’t mean that one should exploit to their heart’s content or donate all they have, but within the confines or leaving each being to their own, focusing on primarily yourself, and doing what’s best for yourself first, and others later.

So dear readers, despite what people may have you believe as selfishness is not all that you think, but do remember that everything does have a consequence. Selfishness, like everything else, isn’t entirely good, or entirely bad–it is, but a means to an end.