Well, last week in my AP Lang and Comp class, our teacher told us to write an promt on whether we're responisble for our actions. After we turned out in-class promt in, we had a short discussion and the idea of helping others and taking responsibility came up. While I pointed out that this boiled down quintessentially to the Ayn Rand Altruism VS Egoism. I was surprised at how many of my fellow classmates would help the other no matter what.

Now I'm 16, and most of the other students are also 17 (i should be a sophomore, very late birthday) and i find it amazing that so many of us apparently are altruistic. I thought it was complete bullshit how they were just lying through their teeth and attempting to hide their true nature. I made a Lord of The Flies reference that was apparently "stupid because it's a work of fiction" and there is no correlation between that book and reality.

I found myself on one side with another three students stating that as long as we're not senile or disable, we chose to perform said action and we will take the after-effects, good or bad, will originate from our initial decision. We neednot to motherhen individuals, live, experience, and learn. True someone might know better, but if you experience it yourself, you'll grow up. Now i'm not for anarchy or anything. and I find the idea of taking someone else's blame ridiculous, they did it, they should suffer for it. I don't see those people "blaming" their successes on others, why should their failures be blamed? I'll help a friend in need and advice and whatnot, but i'm not going to take a dive. Now i'm not a douche or anything, i just think they did the stupid thing, they should learn from it. If i take the dive for them, they learn nothing. Now am I altruistic because i'm trying to help him in the long run? or am I a douche-bag for not blemishing my image?

So do you guys think we're actually altruistic by nature like some people claim? or are we all egoists? I go with egotism, material goods and supremacy has been our goal for centuries.

two questions to answer.