The next quote I enjoyed was "is acting out of self-interest such a bad thing?" (page 309). The following text explains self interest more as self reliance rather than typical selfishness. This is one of those questions that everyone would have a different answer to, which is part of why I enjoy it. But my personal take on this is no, acting out of self-interest is not always such a bad thing. Can it be? Definitely yes, but I think that knowing when to be selfish and having that sense of understand surrounding it, can be a very good thing. When I was younger, I definitely fell into that people pleaser category, and it took me a long time to figure out that it was doing me no good at all and was really just making my life more difficult. Sure the people around me were more happy with me, but I wasn't always the most happy with it. Now on the other hand, I definitely do think about myself first before I consider others into situations. I do still make the effort to think about the other people in the situation, I just prioritize myself. Being able to do that has actually strengthened my relationships. It did cause me to lose a few, but those were the ones that were not very healthy to begin with and probably needed to be dissolved.

The last quote I would like to highlight is "Can there be a place in our world for altruism?" (page 322). I really wanted to talk about this because the text says, "some argue that no such thing exists, because human nature simply does not allow for it" (page 322). But it very much does exist. I think altruism can be an amazing trait. Parents are the biggest example that comes to mind. Mothers give up their bodies just to be able to bring their child into the world, and then for the next almost 20 years they give up countless amounts of their time, their money, their knowledge. Being able to be selfless to me says so much good to a persons character. Yes altruism can be bad if the person does not know their limits, but to me generally it is an amazing thing. I may be partial to this idea since I am so aware of my parents selflessness regarding giving me and my sister the best lives possible. But it is hard to believe that some people completely dismiss the idea of altruism altogether and simply claim it is hidden selfishness. In my mind that reminds me of the idea that miserable people are going to make others lives more miserable as well.