Selfishness

Lately I've been thinking a lot about why people lie, cheat or steal. Generally these things are at the cost of someone else, why do they do these things if it hurts someone else?

I think it comes down to one big thing: selfishness. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: Selfish: concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others.

I would like to add to this a certain immaturity, a lack of taking responsibility for the consequences of one's actions. Selfish people almost always blame someone else for their misfortunes, it's never their own fault. I wonder if that is why they think it's ok to be so dishonest, it's the other persons fault that things went badly, so let's steal from them or cheat them somehow.

I have also observed that selfish people do not steal for what they need. No, they steal for what they want. A non-selfish person may take a job they do not want -- such as janitorial or food service-- in order to ensure that they have the things they need such as food, shelter and clothing. But it seems that selfish people have these things and are unsatisfied. They want the fancier car, the bigger house, the newer boat, they are never content. They then attempt to get what they want at the expense of others. They don't care who they hurt, so long as they get the things that they want.

In retrospect I cannot understand such behavior. It is enough however, to encourage me to curb any little selfish behaviors I have because I do not want to end up like these I have so harshly labeled here.