Is it all about me?

I will never claim to be selfless. In fact, I will claim to be selfish. I can't deny that I want things the way I want them, when I want them, with no ifs, ands or buts. I do consider that most often things can be done my way or the wrong way. However, in my selfishness (and maybe this is a selfish thought), I like to think that I consider the wants, needs, opinions, and desires of others.

I've noticed lately that most, if not all humans with whom I come into contact, share this general selfishness. I've also noticed that a lot of people are taking selfishness WAY too far. So far, that they end up putting their ever so precious self into danger.

There was a woman behind me on the way to school the other day and she couldn't handle the fact that I was in the fast lane and not going twice the speed limit. She couldn't even glance into the slow lane to notice that I was passing 5 cars and the moment the lane was free I moved over. While she was flashing her high beams and honking, I'm sure she sent me to a place far, far away that I have no desire to visit now nor in the afterlife. When she finally, a whole 30 seconds later, got to pass me, I noticed she had her young daughter in the car with her. One wrong move and she could have easily killed herself, her daughter, me and my child just because she thought she could go super fast and tailgate so close we were almost kissing bumpers at 50 mph.

Another example is the NWA flight where the pilots flew past their destination because they turned off their headsets and were using their laptops. These actions put their lives in danger along with hundreds of others. Now they will probably, and should, lose their pilot's licences and their livelihood. All because they were too selfish to focus on their job for the couple of hours it takes to fly from San Diego to the Twin cities.

I want to reiterate that I'm not writing to make any sort of claims of perfection. However, I think we all need to start considering others a lot more than we consider ourselves. It's so often that we hear: Do what's right for you. Don't worry about anyone else. Self first. Etc. You know what I'm talking about.

I've decided that I'm going to challenge myself to be less selfish, to consider others more, to eliminate my jealous and negative thoughts, to be thankful for all the things I do have. I hope you'll join me, even if it means just putting the seat down so your wife doesn't tell you to, or smiling at your coworker even though he/she makes you want to scream. I don't know what ideas you'll come up with, but I hope you'll share so that we can all start being a little more selfless and a little less selfish.