A Lesson Learned About Selfishness

Sometimes you have to learn lessons the hard way. This is the story of how I learned not to be selfish.

I must have been about 10 or 11 at the time and the one thing I really wanted more than anything was my own tv. Before this, I had to watch tv in my parents room. I begged my parents to let me get my own for my room, but they always said no.

Then one day my grandpa came over and said that he needed to go shopping to pick out a tv for my cousins who were about my age. Now they lived across the country, so looking back on the situation now, I should have known something was up, but I was just a young kid at the time so I believed him.

He asked me to go with him to help pick out a tv for my cousins. Now he knew how bad I wanted a tv. I couldn't understand why he would get them a tv and not get one for me. As disappointed as I was, I agreed to go with him.

So we went to the local Walmart and went to the electronics section. We examined all the tvs they had. He asked my opinion on which ones I liked. Then we had it narrowed down to 2 tvs. He asked me which one I thought they would like more. At this point my selfishness kicked in. I was still bitter about the fact that they were getting a tv and I wasn't. There was one that I clearly liked better, but after thinking about it, I pointed to the other one and said, "I think they will like that one better."

I thought, why should they get this good tv and I don't get anything? My selfishness caused me to pick them out a tv that I didn't like as much.

So we bought the tv and brought it home to my house. He originally said he was going to mail the tv to my cousins, but at the last minute he said, "Well, maybe I will just leave this tv here." I was confused. Why would he leave it here? After a minute I slowly began to realize that the tv was actually for me.

At that moment, I had mixed emotions. On one hand, I finally got a tv that I wanted so much, but on the other hand, I had picked out a tv that I didn't like as much as the other. Of course I said thank you and was excited to have my own tv, but in the back of my mind, I wished I had picked out the other tv at the store. I would be stuck with this tv because of my own selfishness.

I learned that day not to be selfish. In the end, everything turned out ok. The tv was good and it still works great even today. Still, it is a lesson I will always remember.