Selfishness
It prevents families from avoiding their tragedies
May 15th 2026
Many problems, even tragedies, in families could be avoided if a little less selfishness were the rule.
For example, here is a man totally absorbed by his professional life, who spends his time travelling away from home or in meetings. When he does come home, tired, preoccupied, and often in a bad mood, he falls into an armchair and buries himself in the newspaper, making it quite clear to his wife that he does not want to be bothered with all the problems of the house, the children, and so on. There may be all sorts of signs that his wife is getting fed up with this situation, but he is oblivious. His wife and children are there and the house is in order, so everything is fine. Then, one evening, he comes home and is astonished to find that she has taken the children and left. He cannot understand why. It is a terrible shock from which he cannot recover; he is devastated and goes to consult a psychoanalyst. The situation had been brewing for many years under his very eyes, but he did not notice, because he was so self-centered.
For example, here is a man totally absorbed by his professional life, who spends his time travelling away from home or in meetings. When he does come home, tired, preoccupied, and often in a bad mood, he falls into an armchair and buries himself in the newspaper, making it quite clear to his wife that he does not want to be bothered with all the problems of the house, the children, and so on. There may be all sorts of signs that his wife is getting fed up with this situation, but he is oblivious. His wife and children are there and the house is in order, so everything is fine. Then, one evening, he comes home and is astonished to find that she has taken the children and left. He cannot understand why. It is a terrible shock from which he cannot recover; he is devastated and goes to consult a psychoanalyst. The situation had been brewing for many years under his very eyes, but he did not notice, because he was so self-centered.
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