Russian living in NYC.

The profile you are reading may evoke the kind of question that I hear once in a while: "Why do you use the word "selfishness" to denote virtuous qualities of character, when that word antagonizes so many people to whom it does not mean the things you mean?"
To those who ask it, my answer is: "For the reason that makes you afraid of it."

In popular usage, the word "selfishness" is a synonym of evil; the image it conjures is aof a murderous brute who tramples over piles of corpses to achieve his own ends, who cares for no living being and pursues nothing but the gratification of the mindless whims of any immediate moment. Yet the exact meaning and dictionary definition of the word "selfishness" is: concern with one's own innterests.