Me.

Beginning from the very day we're born we are consistently thrown two powerful, imperative messages.

Messages.

Lessons we are meant to keep.

Keep in the forefront of our minds for every day as we live

For as long as we live.

1) Think of others. Put others before yourself. Give everything you can. You are the least important person in this room.

2) Think of yourself. Put yourself before others. Keep everything you can. You are the most important person in this room.

Putting yourself before others is selfish, until it isn't anymore.

Putting others before yourself is kind, until it isn't anymore.

And then it's unhealthy. Problematic. Toxic.

True selflessness?

It doesn't exist.

True selfishness?

It doesn't exist.

It doesn't exist.

They don't exist.

So what does?

What exists?

We are told all our lives to fend for ourselves, or we gather it on our own, as we watch the world around us fend for themselves and learn that we must do the same to survive.

We are also told all our lives to fend for others at our own expense, or we learn it on our own, and we never know when to do which.

No one truly knows.

I suppose

All we have are educated guesses.

Hypotheses.

Theories.

Are we selfish for choosing ourselves?

Or are we selfless for choosing others?

I suppose...

Yes. No. Both. Neither.

Wanting different things than those around us makes us selfish, but their want for similarity will always makes them selfish as well.

Are we selfless to forfeit freedom to make them happy? Are they? Or do we just avoid conflict... selfishly?

Everything we do is self-driven.

Self-urged.

Self-motivated.

We're born this way.

We're all born this way and

We spend our entire lives either fighting it or giving into it, and we battle between the two endlessly.

Fighting the voices in our heads that tell us to either do everything for others and care less about ourselves or do less for others and choose everything for ourselves.

'Selflessness' means winning a fight you're not even sure you're meant to win.

'Selfishness' means the very same.

We'll never know what's right or wrong, so it's the best we can do

To guess.

To guess with every choice we make.

To pray we don't make a mistake.

I suppose

It's all we can do

To strive for Balance.

Strive for Balance til' the day we die