While i was raised to regard selfishness as a vice, I realized early on in my adult life that i had to be selfish to a degree in order to take care of myself...so i, in turn, could take care of my children.
“I realized early on in my adult life that i had to be selfish to a degree in order to take care of myself...so i, in turn, could take care of my children.”
Yes! Egoism is about vigorously defending—and never sacrificing—your values, presuming your values are rationally determined.
It is not inconceivable that an egoist may even face near certain death in defense of those values (such as husband for a wife, or mother for her child). Although an egoist always prefers to LIVE for his values.
How does this differ from selflessness? A selfless person feels guilty when he acts for his values. When he has the opportunity to spend 24-7 helping and advancing one human being (himself) he prefers to instead stifle that person to advance some stranger (who may or may not share his values—thus sacrificing a known value for an uncertain one) or even someone who demonstrably opposes his values. He arbitrarily discriminates against himself for the mere reason that it IS himself.
In short, a selfless person values value-destruction. His life is a contradiction—and he is often a neurotic.