This one I wrote for a friend as a topic for public speaking. Nevertheless I knew I cannot miss this topic as I have ego issues and my brother has always been the one to highlight this fact. Not sure if I am working on it or I will ever. But, here's my take on it.
There was once a great scientist. He developed a formula and learned the art of reproducing himself. He did it so perfectly that it was impossible to differentiate between the original and the copy. One day he realized that the angel of death was searching for him. In order to remain immortal, he reproduced a dozen copies of himself. The reproduction was so prefect that all of them looked exactly like him. When the angel of death came down he was at a loss to know which of the thirteen before him was the original scientist. Confused, he left them all alone and returned back to heaven. The Angel came up with a Clever idea. He said to the scientist Addressing all 13 of them, "Sir you must be genius. However, I have discovered a flaw in your work, just one tiny little flaw". The scientist immediately jumped out and shouted, Impossible! Where is the flaw?" "Right here" said the angel as he picked up the scientist and carried him off. The three letter word "EGO" killed the scientist literally.
Ego - the word itself says let GO. The term “ego,” is the Latin term for “I” in English. Ego kills relationships. When expressed, it has the ability to instigate similar behavior in others. We see so many people get into conflicts and most of them have the same question "why should "I" be the one to apologize, or why should "I" be the one who initiates to resolve the conflict. So this constant "I" pulls us away from our loved ones and strains relationships.
Ego cannot thrive in the presence of love. Because to be able to love one must be able to put the interest of the other person above self interest. Love demands selfless affection. There are only two relationships that do not have ego and are based on unconditional love. The first one is the relationship between a mother and her child . She is always ready to sacrifice her personal interest for the child. She would be the first one to give up in an argument. No matter what you do she would be ever ready to forgive you and still loves you unconditionally. The second relationship is between God and a human being. They say that you might have committed thousands of sins but if you forget yourself and become one with him, you will be amazed to realize the intensity of love that he has for us.
Talking about the mother who loves her child selflessly. What is surprising to see is the same mother has a different equation all together when it comes to her relationship with her mother in law. the same question "why should "I" be the one to apologize, the "I" comes again. This goes to show that though a person is capable of being selfless in a relationship, he/she is not completely devoid of ego. The intensity of expression varies from person to person. But there is no human being who can say that "I am ego less". In fact such a statement is the biggest affirmation of the presence of his ego.
Can an individual ever act only according to her own interests without regard for others’ interests. Can an individual ever truly act for others without any regard for his/her own interests? The answers will depend on individual choices.But deep inside our hearts we all know that it is impossible to think about others' interest in all situations. Just ask yourself, have I lost a relationship, have I had fights over trivial things, have I disagreed with others in spite of knowing that I was wrong? I am sure we've. At some point or the other. This goes to show that ego is inseparable from human nature. We all have it. The choice is yours'. Do you want to pamper it and inflate it or control it and make way for love.
