My Selfishness


I've been thinking about selfishness a lot lately. I wrote a poem this week to try to explore it. What is the most selfish act?

I just finished watching The Hours. It came to the same conclusion that I did. Suicide? The most selfish act? No. While in suicide one runs from one's duties in life, one's responsiblities to sacrifice one's self for others. In suicide one ends all that one cannot stand, that one cannot live with. Yet in suicide, in taking the life of one's self, one is selfless in that particular respect, selfless enough to kill one's self. It may be the most cowardly, but not the most selfish.

The most selfish act, then, must be to run away. Hiding from it all, but not ending anything, saving one's self at the expense of others. With strength, not cowardice, loving one's self more than all others. Loving one's self enough to abandon everyone else just to be alone, just to hide, just to live off of the sacrifice of those one ought most to love.