Fun Holidays - World Ego Awareness Day

Caring for one's own interests is an integral quality of a person, which is the key to survival in the world around us. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” Christ urged. In essence, selfishness is a way of maintaining the status quo of an individual in society and the key to establishing interpersonal relationships. A person who does not have an inferiority complex and loves himself is able to experience a similar feeling towards other people. To an extreme degree, concentration on one's own interests harms both the individual and his environment. Therefore, May 11th is celebrated as World Ego Awareness Day, encouraging people to have a balanced ego state and self control. Folk wisdom also contains denial of such an attitude towards the world around us. The statement of a self-centered approach is present in many proverbs and sayings: “Every hand grabs its own,” “A tooth doesn’t hurt behind someone else’s cheek,” “It’s not up to your friend, it’s up to your belly,” “If a horse is not mine, then the wolf eats it!” ", "My grief is an arrow in me, someone else's grief is an arrow in a stump." However, popular sayings are a demonstration of an ironic and disapproving attitude towards this position in life. And indeed, self-love and concern exclusively for personal interests have nothing to do with the generosity of the soul and the manifestation of selfless love for one’s neighbor. A person who insists exclusively on his own point of view is called an egocentric. This form of thinking is characteristic of children. But as she grows up, she transforms into higher qualities in terms of morality and ethics. Egoism and egocentrism are unproductive personality traits. They are opposed to conscious altruism. Remember the reasoning of the Monkey from the famous cartoon “38 Parrots”, full of deep meanings? “It’s very interesting to be well-mannered! You’ll offer someone something. Someone will offer you something. Beauty!” This means that caring for others is not only right, but also beneficial. World Ego Awareness Day calls for abandoning the consumerist attitude towards people and living solely in one’s own interests. Focusing only on one's desires and needs brings results here and now, while in the long run a person will have to pay and bitterly regret this choice. In an allegorical form, this idea is present in many ancient chronicles and oral folk art. “A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather stones,” said King Solomon. “What you sow, so shall you reap,” Russian folk wisdom said long before the appearance of the Old Testament and Ecclesiastes. Love for one's neighbor, generosity of soul and self-sacrifice are considered the norm of life. Selfish Awareness Day, which is celebrated annually on May 11, calls for attention to this.