Between a conversation and a comment I heard someone make I’ve been very thrown by some people at my work.  So before break, there was a conversation I got into where one of the people ended up saying basically saying that he could care less what happens to other people as long as he's well off.  He went as far as responding to the hypothetical situation where there was a nuclear winter ravaging the world but he was doing alright, saying that if he was better off than others at that point then he benefited from that situation because he's better in comparison to others... And just the other day a coworker walk walking to his car, another coworker asked him where he was going.  He responded by saying eventually he was going to hell but, he was going to lunch right now.  Then he uttered an insult about the other coworker and then said something along the lines that hell is a christian belief so it’s bologna anyway.

I guess I wasn’t as surprised at the second happening, but with the mood I was in at the time it threw me off.  I just can’t comprehend people being so selfish.  With the first one he’s an amiable enough guy, but he just cares about himself.  The second will make some comments to your face, but now I know he’ll also make comments you can’t hear.  I suppose with the second it could just be the culmination of nerd culture where you insult your friends to be friends, but the fact that he also does it behind their back…well I guess it would make sense that if you do it to their face you might just do it behind their back just out of habit.

I guess I’m thrown by the first instance because I’ve never heard anyone so directly admit that he only cares about himself.  He didn’t sugar coat it at all.  He was working for himself and he’d be nice enough in talking to others but he really only cared about himself.  I suppose it’s better than what many nominal Christians do where they say that they live for God but really mostly live for themselves…just crazy to hear I guess.

Maybe I put too much faith in people’s inclination towards doing good.  Maybe I’ve hung out with good (note this doesn’t mean they are totally selfless) people for too long.  I guess it’s just a bit of a shock to meet people who are atheists and not humanitarians.  They just don’t care about anyone except themselves…it’s still throwing me…but now I know that they are out there.