self-centeredness is a gigantic problem with people. they are the centers of their universe while everyone else is just an orbiting satellite in some far off galaxy waiting to be discovered. guess what? YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL. sure we all have our little quirks or afflictions but so does everyone else. you might have an extra pinky or just broke up with your so-called boy or girl-friend but the guy down the street might of just eaten his family. now how special do you feel? your day was bad but how about your neighbor's son who was swallowed alive by his dad? think his day was peachy?

do you really think that out of the 6 billion people alive on earth today and the millions that lived before you that you are the only one who had your particular problem? you are the product of billions of years of evolution. your body, the way you think, the way you act and feel are the product of billions of years of evolution. you, you special person, are just a pre-programmed little ball of flesh and bone like the rest of us. we would all act similarly under similar circumstances with similar upbringings. but even without these direct similarities we act pretty much on par with one another. we feel pain when poked, we feel hurt when hated, we feel good when needed. you are too busy looking at how special and different you are to notice how similar you are in so many more ways.

with the understanding of sameness comes empathy. you can feel what another feels because you realize your sameness and know how you would feel in similar circumstances. you would treat them as you'd want to be treated because you see the effects of negative treatment and feel those effects as if your own. there would be no more "them". you would realize how similar "they" are and you would feel a part of a larger entity than just yourself.