RANT: Selfishness Leads To Poverty

Selfishness leads to poverty.

But not necessarily in a financial sense.  It is much deeper.  I believe that selfishness leads to poverty of the spirit and soul.

Are we not all born with a drive toward selfishness?

It is proven to me every time I am standing in a line at Wal-Mart for thirty minutes.  I want to cut in line to avoid waiting.  Let's say that I did cut in line.  I would have the immediate gratification of getting out of the line and not having to wait anymore, but there would be a moment later that evening when I would have to wrestle with the fact that I was out-of-line – literally and figuratively.

It is proven to me when my wife is suffering from morning sickness which has turned into all-day sickness.  The magic fairy that somehow transformed dirty clothes and dishes into clean clothes and dishes has ceased to exist.  The magic fairy that managed the household – mail, laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, library trips, activities with the daughter, shipping IWBNIN resources, managing the financial affairs …  It all stopped.  Now I realize that it was my bride all along.  Now I have to clean, wash, shop, etc.  Poor me.

You know what drives the pity party, right?  Selfishness.  You know what selfishness leads to?  Poverty of the spirit.

No one wants to hang out with a selfish person.  No one wants to hear the pity party.

If you want to lose friends and ruin relationships, be selfish.

Everyone wrestles with it.  If you do not believe me, watch your children when they are little.  "MINE!", is one of the most uttered words.

My friend, Jake Beaty, once asked another friend, Jamie Salmon, this question: "Why do you give?"

Jamie's answer rocked Jake's world.  When I heard it, it rocked my world.

Jamie said, "I give to keep from being selfish."

Well said, Jamie.  Well said.

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