Society! And How You Fit in it.
“To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others,” said French philosopher Albert Camus. Is this really true? Sure, temporary satisfaction can be gained from focusing on yourself; however, in the long run, this individualistic mindset has a negative impact on society, believe it or not. Give and you will receive! Helping out with the community not only allows society prosper, but you as an individual can grow in the long run.
To improve society, there needs to be an understanding of selfishness and how it comes to play with an individual and the community. In an article from Psychology Today, John A. Johnson describes what it means to be “selfish.” We’ve taught the kids of the world to never be selfish. That selfishness chips away at your morality! Johnson states that ALL actions are selfish in one way or another. Yet, contrary to popular belief, being selfish is not always bad.
One idea of Johnson’s that stuck out to me was that there are different types of selfishness. When an individual is in a situation where they benefit from the harm of others, it hurts society — this is called “bad selfishness.” This is contrary to “good selfishness,” which is defined as an exchange of beneficial actions between an individual and the community around them; whether that be volunteer beach trash pick-up, or something as simple as lending a friend your copy of the new Taylor Swift album.
In Catfish and Mandala, a memoir about the author Andrew Pham’s trip back to his home country Vietnam, he describes many instances where people put their needs above others in a way that harms society — in short: “bad selfish.” As soon as he steps into the Vietnamese airport, he is bombarded with people who uniformly share the “all for one and one for all” attitude. In other words, they push past each other and curse loudly in a way that makes baggage claim more onerous. Pham even stated that he was “Mortified by the Vietnamese’s behavior and equally dismayed that [he] felt an obligatory connection to them” (64 Pham). Ultimately, this environment caused Pham to follow suit and push through the crowd, himself. As observed in this example, an individual’s actions have a large impact on society. From an outsider’s perspective, the Vietnamese way can be seen as highly discourteous due to the way that they treat other people. Their attitude even gives Vietnamese society a reputation for being arrogant. But, Vietnam isn’t the only place that exhibits selfish individualism, take California for instance.
California currently is bombarded with individuals who feed their “bad selfishness” during the pandemic, and it’s alarming. I would turn on the news and see millions of Californians struck with the virus, tens of thousands of Californians who have passed away due to COVID, and thousands of Californians hospitalized. Yet, I would open my Instagram app and see young Californians partying away. Mask or no mask. Six feet apart or no six feet apart. I understand that teenagers exhibit feelings of missing out on their “golden age;” however, this selfish act of hanging out with friends during a serious pandemic puts the rest of society at a higher risk of increasing the number of cases.
Pandemic aside, let’s focus on the impact of “good selfishness;” it not only allows for the prosperity of a community, but it allows the individual, themselves, to flourish. Robert D. Putnam, Professor in Harvard, states that “studies have linked lower death rates with membership in voluntary groups and engagement in cultural activities.” This shows that there can be a mutual benefit between a and a community. In Putnam’s “Health and Happiness,” he expands on this relationship that a person can have on a community. Social connectedness and the helping out of others plays an essential role in a person’s engagement in a community. Of course, during a pandemic, it is hard to do both of these things, but in many ways, an individual can help the community by following the COVID-19 guidelines and staying at home.
Now more than ever, everyone plays a crucial role in shaping what tomorrow looks like. Take a moment to think about how you can change society just by valuing your community over your own individual demands. Evidently, you can benefit from putting your community first. After all, helping yourself and helping your community come hand in hand.
Works Cited:
Johnson, John A. “Good, Neutral, and Bad Selfishness.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 15 Jan. 2015, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cui-bono/201501/good-neutral-and-bad-selfishness.
Pham, Andrew X. Catfish and Mandala: a Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam. Flamingo, 2001.
Putnam, Robert D. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013, Health and Happiness.
