think of ourselves first?
Who is not selfish in this world? Are all of us selfish? Do we always
think of ourselves first? Will you call me selfish even if I donate a
large part of my earnings? When will you call me a selfish person, and
when will you say that I am not selfish? For that which qualities are
needed in me? One more question - is selfishness bad always? Could the
world have gone so forward if people were not selfish? Selfishness and
selflessness, these two words can make us think about our society, our
values, the world in bigger perspective, and ourselves. Let us begin.
A family earns money first to feed itself. If something extra is left,
it may give a part to the society. It is for the family to decide about
how much it will save for itself first and when and how much part of its
surplus will it give to the society. If a family decides to save at
least a year's expenses for itself and begin donating only after that,
will you call it selfish? This is very subjective assessment. Am I
correct? Another family, which has saved nothing for itself but begun
donating, can call the earlier family selfish, and the earlier family
can advise the second family to save for the rainy days first. This all
sounds so confusing.
For example let us talk of two very good friends. One of them forgets to
bring a very essential thing to the examination, say - a calculator.
He/she requests the best friend to lend a calculator for the
examination, but the other friend refuses. Which of these two friends is
selfish? The person who is requesting the calculator after forgetting to
bring it, or the person who refuses to lend it? How much for myself and
how much for you? This question comes at a very stage of our life. For
example- parents will not know how to divide if all the children want
the same piece of cake. Every one of us has his/her opinion on this
subject. It is our values and emotions that govern our definition of
selfishness. Some of us may think nothing of giving away our life for
fellow countrymen and some of us horde so much wealth for themselves
that they do not know what to do with that. One can keep on talking and
presenting arguments and examples infinitum, but no two persons will
agree about this subject fully, because their perceptions are different.
The world is made of good and evil people. There are some, who are
nothing but emperors of evilness.
The world is made of good and evil people. There are some, who are
nothing but emperors of evilness. Hitler was one such person. There are
many like him. But we also have evil persons in our society who are
generally not considered evil, but are evil. Let me give my thoughts on
such people.
For me, a person who hits a stray dog with a stone just for fun is a bad
person. One who gives pains to friends for no reason is a bad person.
One who looks at wrong things, and decides to do nothing is evil. One
who hurts feelings of loved ones is a bad person. One who lets other
people sleep in hunger without doing anything about them is a bad
person. One who wants bigger share of the pie is a bad person. One who
shouts and makes others fear him/her is a bad person. One who never
tries to understand feelings of others is a bad person. One who treats
poor people as dirt, is a bad person. One who decides about characters
by looks and passes judgments is a bad person. One who reads a sad story
in the newspaper, without getting affected in any way is a bad person.
One who shows no respect for those who work for others is a bad person.
One who does not sympathize at others losses is a bad person. One who
always tries to prove his/her superiority over others is a bad person.
On and on I can write. What is not good is bad. That is how I call such
people bad. Rather than calling them as not good persons, I call them as
bad persons. All this may look quite shocking and many will protest
about what all I have written above. All right, let me say, that I will
not call the person a bad person, but the act as a bad act. I hope that
now I am more acceptable.
Then, what is evil? Evilness is a quality in a person, whereby that
person hurts others in ways that the very life is taken away. One need
not kill with a sword to be called evil. At times, making false
allegations on someone who never did what he/she is being blamed with is
enough to kill the spirit and the body. That act is evil, and the person
who acts like that is evil.
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