self

selfishness begets selfishness. that's boringly true. when someone acts selfish toward you or at your expense, the knee-jerk reaction is to be selfish in return. maybe it's to protect yourself from the threat of a selfish person looking out only for themselves, and therefore not looking out for you in the least bit.

but this is obvious. it's too easy. selfishness is easy.

what's interesting to me is unselfishness. it's so unnatural. and why doesn't unselfishness beget unselfishness? that would be fantastic. all it would take was one unselfish person and it would spread around like some kind of disease.

but instead, unselfishness is often met with selfishness. like a stream flowing into a black hole.

my dad once told me that if he lived his life all the way in harmony with his ideals, he would not live very long. it reminded me of jesus. jesus lived his life all the way in harmony with his ideals and, sure enough, he didn't live very long.

selfishness is boring. its too easy. i'm more interested in unselfishness. unselfishness in the face of selfishness. unselfishness that begets unselfishness.

i think that's what love is.