Humans are Selfless

We often hear wise people say that we should be selfless, because it is a virtue with all its attendant benefits. What I want to argue is that we already ARE selfless.

Wind back to my parenting days, twenty years or so ago. I spent more time changing nappies and taking care of Baby 1 (this is our first daughter, not a Govinda film) than on myself in the days, weeks and years before Baby 1 could do the potty. Repeated the cycle (my wife did too, I was not alone) with Baby no.2 (this can't even BE a Govinda film title). Then, I spent more days trying to teach them Kannada and Maths, than on my golf in their early school years- with disastrous results in both- but that's not the point.

After that, wherever we moved, I spent time and money on getting them admissions in schools with various levels of greed. I could have spent the time (and the money) on a cruise to the Bahamas, had I accumulated it at 8% compound interest. Selfless? You bet.

If I start listing the things I did for my wife (under duress? no, no, no way, it's just the way I AM), this blog will overflow with the chronicles of my kindness and selflessness, and turn into a story longer than the Chronicles of Narnia, or all the sequels that Hollywood can churn out for all its horrible films. So I'll just skip that part. Suffice it to say that I have contributed to making Sam Walton and Kishore Biyani (and the Pochampalli weavers and the Rajasthani block printers) what they are/were.

The point is, we ARE already selfless. And don't you believe the gurus who claim you aren't. The reason they want you to be so, is because they can then count (or lose count of) all the gold in their vaults, instead of the Waltons.