Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyRush  This is -- to me -- one of the best examples of lack consciousness that has pervaded our society. Everyone says that you're supposed to put others needs above your own.
It sounds good.
It looks good on paper.
But it's dysfunctional and emotionally imbalanced at best.
The truth is that you cannot be any good to others unless you take care of yourself first. The only way you CAN serve others is from a position of strength.
It's impossible to be hungry enough to feed everyone else.
It's impossible to give enough to make everyone else wealthy.
Etc.
The truth is that -- the best thing you can do for others is be an EXAMPLE of what's possible for them. This is often expressed in the humorous quote, "The best thing you can do for the poor is not be one of them!"
Ayn Rand put it another way. She said, "Before you can say 'I love you' to another person, you must first know how to say the word 'I'." This seems to support the words of Christ who suggested that one of the great commandments was to "love your neighbor as yourself". This, obviously, is based on the assumption that you've learned how to love yourself.
Selfishness gets a bad rap but -- in actuality -- a healthy self-interest is completely normal. Extreme altruism is just as dysfunctional as extreme selfishness. Both are unbalanced.
But, in day to day life, there is nothing wrong with serving others. At all! In fact, more people should do more of it! But, you can't feed someone across the ocean if you're so focused on others needs that you can't even feed yourself.
Just my perspective,
Tony Rush |
I can completely agree, but serving others is what everyone does. What you do comes back to you. You have to monitor both ends however and work to cultivate both ends. You cant just selflessly put everyone ahead of yourself without looking around at your situation.
I personally prefer the Ghandi quote "We must become the change we want to see in the world." I believe that people should not eat meat, therefore the only thing I can do is not eat meat and inform people when they ask about my lifestyle. I believe being wealthy and creating wealth is something everyone should do, therefore I can only live that way and answer questions about it when people ask.
Balance is everything.
I think we agree but you took my quote the wrong way.