THE GOOD IN SELFISHNESS

Cynicism is never usually my motive when I act. I believe that man can be selfless in his actions, even though this theory holds very little water. In my third year in the university, I did a course in Ethics. In one of the classes, a debate arose. The debate came about to the statement made by the lecturer. He told us that it is hardly possible for a man to do a good thing for another person without expecting a reward. The reward may either be in the form of a returned favour by the person to whom it is done. It may also be by divine design, especially if the doer was a Christian. That statement immediately triggered a bout of argument. While a lot of people disagreed with that position, a few people reasoned with the argument of the lecturer and agreed with him. The argument that day seemed almost convincing to me. It just made a whole of sense and was waterproof. I mean, think about it. As Christians, we are always enjoined to sow seeds so as to receive abundant blessings from God. Even the Holy Bible stated that when we give, we shall receive back in multiple folds. It says the blessings shall be pressed down, shaken and running over. Note that the catch here is that we must give first. It thus makes a lot of sense when the lecturer said human beings are cynics by nature. I doubt if I have ever given anything out of pure act of generosity alone. Even when in my mind, that is exactly what I convince myself to be doing, I always bear at the back of my mind that God who sees all that I do in the dark will reward me, one way or the other. The humanity in me just knows no bounds. In dealing with my siblings, doing nice things for them means that I get errands done quicker than usual. Even the sense of reference they bear for me rises on such a tremendous scale that I am encouraged to be nicer to them. The truth is that this realization just dawned clearly on me during one of my meditative moods, hence, the inspiration for this piece. This is not an attempt to purge myself of this weakness (that is how I see this), not at all. Infact, I cannot say certainly that there is a specific point this write up will make. I am however sure that a few people will appreciate this point and maybe reason along me. Maybe I can also get a reasonable explanation as to why we cannot as human beings, be totally selfless. No one person can say he is free of this. Even when we do not expect a direct return of the favour we give from the source to which it is given, one way or the other, it has been psychologically embedded in us that for every favour done to a needy person, nature definitely owes us one. Now, my question is this: is this attitude right or not? Should we console ourselves by our humanity and just keep doing good since that is the end result of it all? Now, this brings me to the good that this attitude can produce. Just imagine a situation where everyone inculcates this attitude in them. A situation where everyone believes that for every good done to the other person, you will receive a double of it, pressed down, shaken together and running over. What a wonderful world that will be. I am pretty sure that even the members of the dreaded Boko Haram group will not be rampaging our society and mass murdering us the way they have been doing. More importantly, our office holders will not be as selfish as they are and would render the most selfless services to the citizenry. In all, Nigeria would definitely be a better place. Now, multiply that throughout the whole world. Think of a world where a good deed is repaid in a greater way everytime it is done. There will be less war, whether civil or global in the world. We just might not even know of serial killers. All those oil companies destroying the Niger Delta region might be a little more humane and clean up after them after every spill. In all, the world would be peaceable to live in and the Garden of Eden experience will be relived all over again. Sadly, that may never. Not with the level of evil that daily permeate the world on a daily basis. Well, we can only hope and pray to God Almighty that things get better while we do our very best to make the world the kind of place we would love it to be. You may think it does not matter, but using the dustbin rather than dropping dirt on the floor is a start. Replying a greeting with a smile will go a long way in making a person’s moment brighter. There are a lot we can change by the least important kind gestures.