The Age Blogs: Sam and the City

Hmmm interesting.  I think to label Singles as selfish is over stating their attitude.  I think to say that society in general is selfish would be quite accurate.  Does make you wonder though, just how selfish am I.  (You can wonder about you though) 

Are we too selfish?

"Singles are selfish," tut-tutted The Guardian newspaper. "The Selfish Generation!" hollered UK journalist Jenni Russell. No kids? You must be selfish, reported the Boston Globe.

Yet despite all the hype over a supposed selfish world, when I was recently in New York, I was intrigued (along with the rest of the city) by the story of a 50-year-old construction worker named Wesley Autrey. He was quietly waiting at a New York train station earlier this month when 19-year-old Cameron Hollopeter had a seizure and fell helplessly onto the tracks as an oncoming train approached.

Autrey had to make a split-second decision, so he did, and he jumped in.

He covered Hollopeter with his own body as the train passed overhead, pushing them both down into a tiny space that was only a foot deep.

"Five cars rolled overhead before the train stopped, the cars passing inches from his head, smudging his blue knit cap with grease," The New York Times reported.

"Autrey heard onlookers' screams. 'We're OK down here,' he yelled, 'but I've got two daughters up there. Let them know their father's OK.' He heard cries of wonder, and applause."

Both men survived, unscathed. When questioned why he did it, he simply replied with, "What I did, every New Yorker should do."

A true hero, the New York press gushed. And while his story is just one of many of people who risk their lives everyday to save others, everyone, including me, began to ask the following question: Would I do the same?

True, it's not every day we're faced with the opportunity to save a life, but what about in our very own relationships? How important is it to be unselfish and how many relationships suffer from selfish behaviour?

Charles Darwin predicted that, when faced with the choice of helping others at our own expense, individuals would act selfishly to serve their self-interest.

Yet what if everyone thought this way? Would our relationships be doomed?

Source: The Age Blogs: Sam and the City