No Such Thing as ‘Selfless Deed’.

I first came across the statement while watching a famed TV show. Full credit to it for confronting me with this glorious fact of life- a fact that always loomed around me but was somehow under wraps. I never took it seriously then. Overtime, it all began to make sense. The exactness of the statement cleared the fog completely.

In this world, we are surrounded by millions of people. We come across a several hundred in our daily lives and are close to a few starting with our family, our friends and other significant ones. But the fact remains that each one of us is an individual. One single person donning several expectations, worries, needs, demands, wishes, fears and lots more. Each one of us is on a path- a path which leads us to happiness and peace. Everyone has their own definition of peace and happiness. And in order to get there, we are ready to give up anything and anyone, no matter how important that thing or person is. Most of us are not upfront about it, but in our secret space we do harness such feelings.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to be happy in their own lives and be the way they imagined themselves to be. Nobody really cares for anyone. Even if a person claims that they wish to see the other person happy, they do so because ultimately, it would make himself/herself happy. Nobody does anything for anyone solely because they are concerned about the other person’s happiness. Ultimately everyone is concerned about his/her own happiness. If your good deed manages to bring a smile on someone’s face, you know it would ultimately bring a smile on your face too.

I consider myself no exception to this theory. But what makes me wonder is that, are we all programmed to be this way? If there is no such thing as a selfless deed, then why such clamour about the selfish actions of others? Why so much anguish when we ourselves do not practice what we preach? Actually, nobody practices what they preach. Then why so many expectations?

May be its not just about being selfish or not. It’s not just about categorizing it only as black or white. There are the shades of grey, which we often overlook. Like in this case, it is about the degree of selfishness or selflessness that is important. There are people who are less selfish and some who are more. But again, where do we draw the line to precisely set out which is the highest, lowest or moderate degree for being selfish?

With so much said and done, it all comes down to two things. Accept more and expect less. Accept the fact that everyone is selfish and do not expect anyone to be selfless because there is indeed no such thing as a selfless deed.