Selfless Acts

By: Kara P It’s hard for people to be selfless. People, I feel are naturally selfish, sometimes I don’t think they mean to be but just are. Even when we go out of our way to help others a lot of times we want praise for our actions, which turns a selfless act into a selfish one. Ethically we should be less selfish, but it’s hard. As a woman of God I try really hard to be selfless but it’s difficult to not want people to recognize my selfless act. Some selfless act can sometimes in return hurt you, not physically, but emotionally. When I was 18 and I was just starting college, my cousin called me to tell me she was going into labor with her son and wanted me to be there. My cousin hasn’t always been a family favorite because of her not so great decisions she makes, but we grew up together and were really close so I grew to be very protective of her. I always got her out of trouble and held high hopes that one day she would mature and make better decisions. When her son was born she seemed to be doing better and I was so grateful. She called me one day to tell me that her mother had kicked her out of the house and she and the baby had nowhere to go, the baby was only 8 weeks old. I immediately went to my mother to beg her to let me help my cousin, and to my surprise my mother said yes but it was going to be my responsibility. Within a few days my cousin and her baby boy moved in with me and I did everything I could to help her out. For the first few weeks everything seemed great, but then my cousin started leaving her baby with me while she went away for the weekend to hang out with friends. I was fine with her going out every so often, but weekends turned in to weeks and then weeks turned into months. I never saw her much and ended up raising her son on my own until he was 8 months old, while I also attempted to go to college. It was hard; it wasn’t a life I was ready for. I ended up dropping out of college to just focus on the baby; I loved him like he was my own. A little after the baby turned 8 months old, my cousin started showing up again. Apparently her and the baby’s dad patched things up but she kept saying she still wanted to stay with us just in case it didn’t work out. Sadly to say one weekend she took they baby to go see the baby’s dad, and she never came back. She wouldn’t answer calls or texts and I never even got a thank you. I didn’t hear from her again until the baby was 2 years old. I had forgiven her for what she did but it sometimes still upsets me. Doing selfless acts is a wonderful thing. God wants us to be selfless. Sometimes we have to take chances on what the end result will be of our selfless act. This selfless act was heartbreaking for me, but I have performed other selfless acts that brought me joy even without praise. So I encourage others to be less selfish and more selfless.