When I first went to college I met a boy who had a very unique look at life. He was exceptionally jaded, but still somehow put on an upbeat face everyday. It's been a few years since I've seen him but every once in a while he comes to mind. Today for some reason I was thinking about one of the discussions we had. One day he tried to convince me that there was no such thing as a truly selfless act. His reasoning was that everything someone does no matter how self sacrificing it maybe, still has some selfish gain. Such as the personal gratification from volunteering, or the recognition for donating.
I can kind of understand where he's coming from with the proposition that there are no selfless act, but I still find it a little sad. to think that there are no self less act, to think that everything you do is really self serving and selfish is depressing. That means that whenever someone else does something nice for you they aren't doing it for you but for themselves.
I don't want to live in a state of naivety, however I don't want to analyse every gift and gesture to determine what they got out of it. Everything has strings, we wouldn't be human if they didn't. Society is filled with manners, propriety and etiquette. I'm okay living in a world that is basically selfish, as long as its selfish with its generosity.
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