Selfish Versus Selfless

I have recently been having a discussion with a few of my friends about this book that I love. I discovered it a few years ago during my time in Tanzania, its called Atlas Shrugged, written by this amazing woman Ayn Rand. This novel is seen by most people as Rand's most complete statement of her objectivism philosophy. I don't want to go into it much here, in the appendix of Atlas Shrugged she offered this summary: "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."
The magic in my opinion of Rand's philosophy is that she is saying that there is nothing wrong with saying that what you are doing is for your own good. That working to make yourself happy, will in the long run end up helping the people around you. She argues that independence and individual achievement drive the world, and should be embraced. Her worldview requires a 'rational' moral code. She disputes the notion that self-sacrifice is a virtue. The idea that each person is responsible for achieving his/her own rational self-interest is what I find to be quite revolutionary-if that is the right word-for there is a difference between rational self-interest and what she calls "selfishness without a self"-which is a moment selfishness to promote the self that has no esteem. She uses the example of thieves, stating that instead of using "that which promotes the concept of human life," as their standard of values, they promote "that which I value" as the standard, thus leaving a blank check on what is and what isn't moral.
What this all means-and why I find it revolutionary-is that it allows one to think that is fine to think of oneself, to consider what would make my life better, what would make me happier. For in the long run that would help everyone around me. It makes me feel good to give charity, to volunteer at organisation-UNRWA, Cancer Research-and by then going out and doing that, I help the people around, my society.
The discussion that happened between my friends and I , was the fact that quite a few people find it hard to swallow when one says that there is nothing called a selfless act. We don't do anything just for the sake of it-everything good, every decision that is made with the propose of promoting the concept of human life, is valid. During the discussion many examples were bought up, the one that I found the hardest to think in Randian terms was when my friends bought up the fact that they have to pick me up and bring me home-since I do not have a car at this moment. Now one could think that when any of my friends comes to pick me up, and then drive me home, that they are doing a purely selfless act-that they gain nothing from it. But there is another way of thinking about it, by picking me up and bringing me home, they have someone with them in the car, that promotes their happiness and at the same time mine-they get to have a companion, and I get to go out and see my friends. Also where ever we end up going, I must bring some sort of enjoyment to the sitting, willa why would they call me and pick me up. So in Randian terms-and I hope this is making sense to people-when I get picked up and brought home by any of my friends, it is not a selfless act. But truly a rational selfishness, we all gain, we are all happy.
I think the true power of Rand and this novel, is that it has made me think in a completely different way, whenever I make a decision I see that I no longer think in terms of what do other people want, how can I make others happy. But what will make me happy. This can also be explained when one talks about ones parents. I am the only child, and am very close to both my mother and father, and I ask their opinion on most decision that I have to make about my future. There have been quite a few times when my parents and I didn't agree on a course of action-one being my decision to come back to Amman and find a job here-they wanted me to stay abroad, and find a job there. I think that me coming back was a rationally selfish act, I don't have to pay rent anymore, or think about bills, and the fridge is always full and my laundry is done. But at the same time I am close to my parents, I am bringing my experience and education back to Jordan where I will inshallah find a job and work hard.
So all in all the point of Randism is this:
"To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason, Purpose, Self-Esteem"