Have you heard of or met those people who go through their entire lives thinking only of themselves? There's a good chance that you have.... These people have been brought up to believe that you should always look out for yourself, otherwise someone will take advantage of you. So they counter this by grabbing every oppurtunity they get, even at the cost of discomfort or harm to fellow men and women, being under the illusion that this is the only way to survive in this hard world.
As they are only on the lookout for things that will benefit their career, make them richer, make their kids smarter( that is,their own version of being smart, to look out for personal benefits) and so on, they will have little interest in things that don't concern them. You won't see them feeling sorry for the neighbours when they get robbed, but you'll see them clucking away like chickens if there is a rumour that the burglar is going to strike their house next. They show no interest in global warming, increasing levels of carbon dioxide, excessive forest cutting, loss of habitats for animals, recycling, saving water, avoiding food wastage, saving paper, avoiding use and burning of plastic...they beleive it that these worldwide phenomena will not affect them, it is for others to worry about and besides, how will one less person forgetting to turn off the tap affect the world anyway?
They will only help others when they know that they will get something in return. Haven't you often heard the line," Why should you keep helping him when he does nothing for you?" (granted, there are definitely a few crooked people who ask for your help or money often and then disappear from your life). In a crowded train, they will refuse to adjust so that more passengers to sit down, complaining that they paid for the seats, have had a long hard journey that was already delayed by 2 hours, they have the right to use them fully and blah blah blah. Well of course you have the bloody right since you paid for the seats, but did you realise that the standing passengers are having a harder journey?
When they are responssible for an accident on the road and injuring someone, their immediate reaction is to screech away from the scene before the police come, shouting loudly that it was the other guy's else's fault (in America it's understandable, because some wierdos are more interested in suing the culprit than in grieving for their family member). There are so few people who even stop to offer help when a fellow's car breaks down on the highway.
When you think of matters only from your own point of view, you are known as a narrow-minded person. Such people are also more judgemental and have shorter tempers. When a broad minded person does things in his own unique way, instead of following the age old practices of his society these fools are quick to pass comments and ridicule them, never bothering to fairly judge if this person is making a wiser move than everyone else. It is because of broad-minded people in history like Giordano Bruno, Copernicus and Galileo that we know the truth about our solar system and universe today( the Church in the medieval ages believed that since God has a path set for us, it is no longer necessary for us to think). Bruno was burned at the stake for having opinions contrary to those of the Catholic faith, Copernicus had his works published only after his death to avoid repurcussions and Galileo was sent to jail for claiming that the earth was not the centre of the universe... I ask you....
