| I recently took note to a difference in the words 'selfish' and 'self-centered'. Many people use them interchangeably, but that is not correct usage. Someone who is selfish may or may not always want things to go their way, want things for themselves or be stingy with that which is already theirs. (I mean this all in the way that 'or' means A+[B+(A+B)] can all be possible). Someone who is self-centered is not quite aware that others exist. Not that they walk around oblivious to people around them. Rather, they just don't realize/recognize that other people feel the needs and pains that they do. The know they are thinking things, but they don't impose their own feelings onto them. It's almost as if they believe the world is egocentric. (Which I suppose is where that word came from.) Like geo-centrism (when people believed the Earth to be the center of the universe), they feel the world revolves around them, but not in an egotistical way, sort of in a remote cognitive way. Self-centered people tend to be a little naive, therefore not really dispicable, but rather, piteous. Someone who is self-centered cannot be selfish. In order to be selfish, one must be aware of the people around them. They must have a blatent disregard for other people. Self-centered people can have the characteristics of selfish people. They may want things for themself, but they aren't aware that someone else might want them as well. They may have been told that its true, but it never really sinks in or occurs to them that every person is an example of a someone who may need things. Likewise, selfish people may boast self-centeredness. They may act as if the world revolves around them and act so often disregarding people that eventually the habit of only catering to their needs creates a deeply grooved idea in their minds that they're the only person who matters. Which, is different than believing that they're the only person who needs and feels. |
