That does not mean I have to live my life for those people. But I am a better person for helping give other people the opportunity to improve their lives. The opportunity though, and not simply living my life for them or taking from other people and giving to people who have no desire to improve their lot. Therefore, I'll never be a Rand follower. She can be admired for her fierce opposition to the totalitarian state, but her love of complete selfishness does not appeal to me.
That does not mean I have to live my life for those people. But I am a better person for helping give other people the opportunity to improve their lives.
I think you may miss one of Rand's key points which is more about being forced to help others. Rand doesn't rail against charity or doing good for others, she rails against being forced either by Government or those who subscribe to a political system that abhores the nature of a Capitalistic society.
I think if you look at who pays the taxes in this country today vs. those who are living on the government dole with a sense of entitlement (they're "entitled" to our tax dollars by force of government taxation and wealth distribution away from those of us who work) I think Rand nailed exactly what this country turned into, and she did it more than 50 years ago.
Ah, then you do derive some benefit from helping others. In that case, Rand would have approved quite heartily. It was only hair-shirt denial that she criticized.
The credo that I must help others even though it hurts me -- indeed, because it hurts me. That's the definition of "altruism". She hated that.
So do I. Because it's always false and usually imposed from above.