I often think about what motivates us to do things. I mean, what really makes us do things; who and what it is that we do them for. I've come to the conclusion that absolutely everything we do, we do for ourselves- humans are very selfish, it turns out.
Like, when you make a sacrifice. Suppose you really, really want the last cookie, but your best friend wanders in and expresses the deep love for cookies s/he has. And you decide that even though not having the cookie will make you feel kind of miserable (as not having cookies tends to do), you'll let your friend have it. Why did you just do that? Because you care about your friend?
I think it's because you thought it out and decided that if you make your friend unhappy by keeping the cookie, you'll be guilty enough to outweigh the nice feeling from getting the cookie - you'll be more unhappy than happy. If you give up the cookie, you'll be unhappy because you didn't get it, but you'll be happier because you won't feel any guilt - you'll be more happy than unhappy. So really, you didn't do it to make your friend feel good, you did it to make yourself feel good; it was the choice that made you feel happier, it was the guilt-free option. You don't care about your friends as much as you care about yourself, whichever way you look at it.
It's kind of muddled written down, so I tried my best at making that easily understandable. If you don't get it, nuts to you.
(Oh, and if you keep the cookie, it's because you feel better when you're happy than when your friend is happy. If you keep the cookie, you suck as a friend)
P.S. If anybody has $3.50 USD+shipping and a big, fluffy heart, dare I ask for this? It would make you happy to make me happy! We both win!
3 comments:
El ser humano es demasiado egocentrista y siempre esta buscando un beneficio propio (en este caso felicidad..........
y.... en cuanto lo otro, siempre puedes esperar a tu cumleaños... :)
What about making your own? Still 6.5 weekdays of holiday left, or something.
---Mom
e.g.m.: para el cumpleaños ya tenía pensada otra cosa :3 Bueno, creo que esos beneficios son *para* la felicidad, en vez de que la felicidad sea uno de ellos... Dinero, cosas materiales, poder, salud, etc., el objetivo de obtenerlos es hacerse feliz, no? Si no, no los querríamos. 8D
Mom: I'd like to, but lack supplies and talent. And Irene's got her intra-semestral thingamajig, so that's a no-go. Oh, and you're not supposed to mention the whole running-out-of-holidays thing. Pretend you're talking to a person with a terminal disease; would you say that? T-T
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