Posted by Pinsing Chen on October 15, 2009 at 1:00pm
Even though I don’t know you, I’m going to let you in on a little secret about me that might be the single hardest thing for me, Pinsing Chen, your typical Chinese college student, to admit. After a long reflection of my nineteen year old existence in this world, I’m just going to flat out say that I am the most selfish person you’ll ever meet. This nature of selfishness didn’t just appear out of nowhere, I built up a habit of it through egotistical acts. At this point you might be thinking, “Wow, this guy is horrible, he knows what he’s doing wrong and yet he still continues doing it?” That might be true, but I want you, as the reader, to reflect back on your life and see if you can admit most of your actions haven’t been driven by selfish motives. If you can’t, then kudos to you, you must either be a part of that minuscule percentage of people in the world that are selfless or only lying to yourself.Selfishness directs my life and is the main culprit behind my actions. In addition, as cynical as this might sound, I truly believe it also drives over 99.9% of the people in this world. As pessimistic as this is, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. For instance, it could be wealthy entrepreneurs, such as Bill Gates, donating millions to charities to obtain that fuzzy and bliss feeling we get from helping others. On a more personal note, it is I going to school and getting good grades in order to earn the respect and admiration of my parents that I selfishly and continuously desire. The outcomes of these selfish acts are feelings I cannot live without.In my opinion, selfish acts can end up as win-win situations; it is all a matter of how we go about them. You might think that this doesn’t apply to you because you’re part of that tiny exception or think I’m completely wrong, but I don’t care this is what steers my life on its uncharted course.
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