A virtue called self-love

My dear Billy, Here’s a very easy question for you. Can you tell me which one of the 26 letters that constitute the wonderful panoply of the alphabets of the English language is the most beautiful, most exciting and sweetest? If you don’t know, let me tell you that it’s the letter “I”.This letter rings a special, divine music which is so enchanting to the ears. It can bring a sense of pleasure and ecstasy that no other letter can. It’s so endearing and captivating that very few people indeed can avoid falling to its magical charm. Oscar Wilde, the Irish author who came three centuries after you, once said that to love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. Indeed, people never tire loving themselves. Some self-made men there are who do not fail to worship their creator. The great dream of others is to die in their own arms. It is not truth, justice, liberty, that they seek; they seek only themselves. They seek only for themselves. A beautiful young person I met the other night was complaining that the world had grown too selfish. She found people were too engrossed in their own welfare and well-being and had neither the time nor the inclination to care for others. “The world is governed only by self-interest,” she wailed. Well, you will admit, my dear Billly that if that person persists in this thought, she will soon become an anachronism in a world where everybody is totally and utterly in love with themselves. Have you heard about the cock who thought that the sun rose every morning just to hear him crow? I know at least one guy who has given up reading books, because, to use his own words, “I find it takes my mind off myself.” This passion for self-love may have been prompted by the great edict that commands you to “love thy neighbour as thyself,” my dear Billy, because the evident meaning is that you must love yourself first and it is only afterwards that you can think of loving your neighbour or his wife. I quoted Oscar Wilde earlier to say that to love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. But those who fall in love with themselves at first sight are probably the happiest people in the world, because thus they are never at risk of being deceived in love. The motivating force, the guiding principle and ultimate end of an individual’s actions should be his own welfare only. Whatever he does should be directed towards his own happiness. Don’t forget, my dear Billy, that even God created Mauritians out of sheer selfishness: He created Mauritians so that He might laugh at their stupidity ever after. The world is governed by the laws of selfishness. Everybody is selfish to varying degrees. On the rare occasions that we do something for others, we call that selflessness. Selfishness is what they fail to do for us. Some people think that all the world should share their misfortunes, though they do not share the sufferings of anyone else. An egotist is often perceived as a person of low taste, who is more interested in himself than in you. But a life full of self-love, self-seeking, self- interest and selfishness is what we should aim at and aspire for, although selfishness is a detestable vice which no one will forgive in others, and no one is without. Indeed, people who try to pretend that they are superior make it so much harder for those of us who really are. The nice thing about egoists is that they don’t talk about other people. Selfishness is a way of life whereby everybody lives for himself. If your mango tree has borne fruit to cracking point, it is always better to let the mangoes fall and rot instead of sharing them with your neighbours. Why should you bother about satisfying their needs for mangoes? And then, why should you give lifts or carry people in your car? Can’t they use the bus? If you have purchased something, some implement or tool for your own personal use, like a lawn mower or a drilling machine, it is stupid to extend its services to others. If your neighbour needs to bore a hole in his wall, why can’t be buy his own equipment to do it with? If you are driving on the main road, there is absolutely no point giving way to the other vehicles coming from the subsidiary roads to pass before you, is there? Many parents do inculcate a marvellous sense of selfishness to their children since their tender age, my dear Billy. They forbid their children to lend or give away their things to their friends: their toys, their books, etc. They stretch their egomania to such an extent that they prevent their child from playing with his friends. One mother, on gifting a ball to his five-year-old son, admonished him, “See that you don’t allow others to play with your ball.” She was perhaps expecting him to give a solo football performance. Milton has carefully marked in his Satan (Paradise Lost) the intense selfishness which motivated him to reign in hell rather than serve in heaven. The wife of a famous man was once asked, “Is your husband religious?” She replied “Oh yes, he thinks he’s God Almighty.”