Well, it has the two most selfish parts of English language in the title. The point was for me to express what I think about being selfish, and as you may have noticed, all of it comes from experience, mostly personal, some observational.

For once, I was able to express myself and my darker side without the anxiety that comes with presenting oneself as not perfect. The way I see it, I allowed myself to care about myself, after years of self-pity, and I'm proud of being able to be so honest and open about this major issue I have. Consider it self-therapy.

It might do ThatFanficGuy good to take himself a little less seriously.

Oh, certainly. It will take a while, but I believe I'm making progress. One of the steps I have to make was to talk about it honestly; I believe I've missed a few points, but overall, I did what I had - and wanted - to do. This was the most honest about myself I have ever been, because it touches upon the very essense of what makes me a bad person.

When you find yourself to be something you loathe, you're going to be very serious about it. It doesn't invalidate your statement, of course, and I understand what you mean. I hope to achieve it as a grow personally by putting others' concerns before my own.

It seems to portray people as mere sources of validation.

I never intended to act in a way that would make it appear true. I did have such an outlook earlier (in fact, this is what made my first girlfriend break up with me), because I do have troubles with empathy. I've started training it, but doing so consciously is a slow and effortful process.

Thank you for the honest and constructive review. It is exactly what I could use right now. If you could be so kind, point me towards what made you say the latest quoted sentence.