Selfish or Not

"Why are people so cruel to the poor?"  ... an interesting question offered to me.

Six thousands refugees have died along the U.S./Mexico border
since 2000, and another 40,000 died around the world.
Just trying to survive ....

I’ve often wondered about choices. It seems that every possibility in front of us falls into one of only two categories; 
- I choose to benefit myself alone, or 
- I choose to include the good of others. 
The first is selfish, the second is not.

Choosing personal advantage, personal advance, personal profit can be selfish when compared to a choice that benefits others too.

Choices for personal pleasure across the spectrum of friendship, affection, and intimacy fall out similarly.  Hmmm.  Selfish or not.

Life choices as we give of ourselves to family and career, principle, faith and reason will all reflect our preference ….

A life of selfishness is a precipitous decline, repeatedly self-justifying wrong as though it were right and reasonable.

Each has a story, a reason for leaving their homeland.

And so we come to the question about poor … and to every other classification we apply to folks different from ourselves.  Our preference, either to include the good of others or to serve ourself alone, will determine how we relate and interact, how we affect the lives around us.

She's been walking for five weeks, 

carrying her daughters, aged 2 & 4.

Abandoned by the girls' father, she's

lived at the edge of survival.  She hopes

there will be help available somewhere.

As individuals, we choose to be selfish maggots or not.  Along the way, we are often influenced by others which can lead to collective selfishness.  The pervasive result is individual and cultural prejudice, discrimination, oppression, and cruelty, as we’ve seen through history.

Perhaps the worst of such selfishness is when one leads others astray.  For just one example, Hitler propagandized Jews as a criminal contamination of the country, and many people ... by believing, they chose the destruction of their own souls along with the minds and lives of their children.  The collective legacy is despised, a foul cesspool.    

If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, we’re warned, it would be better for them to have a great stone tied to their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea ... do whatever it takes, regardless of the price, to stay far, far away from that cesspool.

Some will indeed be led astray as leaders proclaim superiority vs. inferiority, they're liars or criminals and rapists ....

There will be many who learn the lesson, early or late, who will live graciously and with a good heart toward others. They’ll raise noble children, they’ll encourage so many along the way, and they’ll help those who could use a hand.  At the end, their lives will have been valuable beyond measure.

Cultures can be open and helpful, sometimes. Selfishness often corrupts good intent, and thoughtful individuals find themselves facing a difficult world.   Difficult, but perhaps not impossible ... to have a good heart toward others.