WDYDWYD?

With JoMo's creation of the "WDYDWYD?" Facebook group, I've had this question on my mind quite often recently (the question, for those unfamiliar, is "why do you do what you do?"). Obviously my posting on the group was meant to be humorous and not too serious. I mean, am I going to Hell? That's up for debate. I'd say no, on the basis that I don't believe in Heaven/Hell, and if they don't exist then I can't go to either of them. On the other hand, if they do exist, regardless of my atheism, I think I'm a pretty decent person and might deserve a seat in the nicer of the two supposed realms.

Moving on, I believe that everyone does things to pursue their own personal ambitions. These ambitions can be small or large, simple or complex, short- or long-term; from not wanting to be late to work to wanting to be happily married someday. One of my beliefs regarding mankind is that everyone does everything in order to benefit themselves in one way or another. Obviously some actions benefit others as well, and perhaps more than they benefit ourselves, but no one does anything that won't benefit themselves.

The argument that could be made is that people who put their lives in danger to save someone else aren't benefiting from that action. I could take the cynical approach and say that the person doing the saving is benefiting with an ego-boosting good reputation and potential short-term positive notoriety. A more acceptable explanation, however, might be that if that person makes no attempt to save the other person's life, then he/she would have to live with the notion of that neglect on his/her conscience. Thus, the resulting benefit of saving the person's life is not having that person's death on your conscience.

Understand, still, that I believe that there can be genuinely good people, and that there are many good people. Just because an action benefits you does not mean you are necessarily a selfish or bad person.

I'm not expecting most people to agree with this cynical philosophy which I've adopted, and I'm not going to say that it's absolutely right, but it's what I believe, so at least consider it and maybe see that it is quite often true. Arguments and attempts to disprove this belief are always welcome.

Building off of that philosophy, though, I also believe that, while not all ambitions are related, most short-term ambitions are shaped by long-term ambitions. In other words, my ambition to make a lot of money helps to shape my ambition to not be late for work. This ambition (to make a lot of money) is more important than others which might shape my short-term ambitions, such as my desire to stay at home and do something more fun than working.

It's this ambition to be successful and rich which ultimately makes me do what I do. I don't go to work or study for exams because it's fun. I'd suppose then, that all of our actions are determined by all of our ambitions, and the importance of each respective ambition.

Agree or disagree, it matters not to me, but hopefully you'll at least take a closer look at the reasons behind your actions. While I believe that everyone does everything to benefit themselves, I don't necessarily think that it's a good thing. Try to do more things that benefit others as well. It's Christmastime, it's a time for giving. At any point of the year, though, try to give to others and help others. Try doing something with someone else in mind, and you'll be surprised at how much it benefits you.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!