Many people claim that they do good things out of the goodness of their hearts. I'm becoming more convinced each day that there are selfish reasons behind most good acts.

Some people follow the Christian teaching of "love one another," so they do good to others in order to go to heaven. Do they perform charity because they want to help someone, or are they doing it to save their own souls? The moment one does something in order to look good in front of God, the act becomes a selfish attempt to bribe God, or buy one's place in heaven. Mind you, there are other faiths with the same, or at least similar teaching. Let's not focus on one religion here. Each organized religion speaks of caring for others. How many members of those religions care for others for totally unselfish reasons?

How many of us do something nice for a friend or relative expecting in the back of our minds that we'll get something in return?

I believe there are very few people in this world that actually help others simply because they want to help, expecting nothing in return. If I had to place myself in one of the categories, I'd probably be among the selfish and the liars.