The other day I was going to Farmgate in another sitting-service bus. When the bus stopped at Shewrapara, a married couple got on the bus. As they were married, they wanted to sit together. But they could not do so since no two-seat slot was vacant. There were a lot of vacant seats but everyone was seating in a scattered way, consequently the couple had to commute in a standing position. There were so many people sitting alone in the two-seat slot and the couple requested many of them to do a small favour and vacate one of their seats so that they could sit together. But no one was eager to do so rather some of the passengers expressed their feeling of irritation as the couple was standing beside them. They were rebuking the helper in the name of rules. They were asserting loudly that it was not allowed to stand on the bus but none of them was ready to realize the awkward situation the couple was facing owing to their egocentric behaviour. At some point, the couple got involved in quarreling with the agitated passengers. And at one stage, to my utter surprise, someone of them confessed blatantly, “I am not getting air because of you. So get away from my side so that I get the air.” How mean-minded he was! It clearly indicates that the passengers were not concerned about rules rather they were simply thinking of their self-interest. But to prove themselves conscious and responsible, they were talking about rules.

People from different walks of life including many psychologists now believe that ‘even at our best, we are out for ourselves’. To be frank, everything we do- from the benign activities to the ostentatious ones- we do ultimately for our own benefit. In some instances, the personal gain is obvious while in other instances, it is not so obvious. It means we help or pretend to help others with a view to projecting self-interest. More or less, we all possess and cherish the same mentality.

The view that humans are always motivated and moved by self-interest is called psychological egoism. All of us are more likely to be affected and controlled by such view. Thomas Hobbes, one of the most acclaimed philosophers of seventeenth century, opines that human beings always act from self-interest. On one occasion Hobbes was seen giving money to a beggar. When asked why, he explained that he was trying to relieve his own discomfort at seeing the beggar in need. There are many like Hobbes out there but many of us do not admit or realize that error on our part.