Selfishness still gets stuff done

As PTJ stated during class, I was making multiple cynical comments. I actually found it funny because my teacher in high school told me I was the most cynical person he'd ever met. But anyways, I didn't quite have an answer for my comments, but of course right after class what I wanted to say came to me. People work for their self interest. Even when people volunteer, its for their self interest much of the time. For example, someone who volunteers because it makes them "feel better about themselves" is ultimately doing it for his or her own selfish reasons not because the people they're helping are being helped. Another example that's prominent is when people do public service because they have to. When I went to a soup kitchen yesterday (which I did because I had to for Macroeconomics), the people there asked why I had to come. Apparently, not many people come just for their own volition. This idea was sugggested in Habits of the Heart. They talked about how "getting involved" and service certainly has private and public reasons. I feel that the private reasons are more prominant.

Getting back to the class discussion, I don't believe that there's a chance in hell Amerian University is shelling out 35 million dollars a year just to be a good community member. AU must be gaining something from this. Whether its direct gains to the university or gains to the students of the university (which is still benefitting the university itself because we are a large part of it), this incredible financial contribution is not just a nice public act. I remember when it was said that everything President Kerwin did was calculated, this could be another one of those things. Even if the only benefit to AU is to suggest an image of public service to the community, the money is still being given for selfish reasons.

With this being said, AU is helping the community while helping themselves. So even with my cynical views on their selfish reasons for givingthe money, I can't deny that a public service is still being done.