Altruism?

I once read that we act selfless for purely selfish reasons. For example, if I were to present you with a gift of some sort, it wouldn't be because I truly care about you, but rather because I enjoy the feeling I get in doing such an action. Or maybe I simply want you to have a more favorable opinion of me. Maybe I subconsciously expect something in return? Regardless, it's an interesting concept. Ultimately, it means that we all only care about our own skin and everything we do is simply for our own advancement. We'll help others because we know that, in the end, we will somehow benefit from it.

Take a look at the opening scene in The Dark Knight. These thugs are helping each other solely because they understand that they individually cannot pull off the bank heist and require the expertise of various others (in addition to the extra manpower) required to do so. While they may not be able to have the entire amount of money being stored in the bank, it's more money than what they started with, and certainly more money than they would have acquired had they attempted to rob the bank alone.

With this in mind, I had a certainly interesting experience today in my Calc class. A friend of mine named Salmaan is in the class with me and always sits next to me since he doesn't understand the material too well and I'm able to clarify it for him. And ever since school started, he's been doing all of his notetaking and homework in pen. So today, while he left his desk to answer a phone call, I snuck a pencil on his desk because I felt bad for the kid. When he came back, he made no acknowledgement to the mysterious eraseable writing utensil that had appeared. Still, the fact that he was able to take notes more efficiently was enough for me.

And as class ended, there was a wallet that was left on a seat in the classroom. Salmaan was the first to pick it up. We attempted to chase after the kid, but we walked right into an ocean of kids all exiting class, ready to proceed with their days. I grabbed the wallet from Salmaan and tried to run down five flights of stairs to see if I could catch the kid. Unfortunately, there was a roadblock in the form of a pair of douchebaguettes chatting about their hair appointment later that day.

Once I made it to the lobby, I was scanning as fast as I could, attempting to match a face with the picture on the license that I peered at whilst running down the stairs. Once Salmaan caught up to me, I asked him to check outside the building while I would search for the kid (whose name was Paul). At that point, Salmaan and I had a chat.

S: "Dude, just take the cash and drop it. I'm sure if he was in this situation, he'd do the same thing."
A: "While that may be true, I feel that if I were in his situation, I would like if someone did the right thing."
S: "And then he'd be inclined to do something nice for someone else, too."
A: "Exactly. Think if it as viral marketing...except it's more like viral Samaritism."
S: "Come on, you could order an awesome computer off of Newegg and use his credit card!"
A: "Yes, and where would they ship it to? My house? I'm sure the cops would be there before the parts would."

While he was saying his unscrupulous ideas with a touch of sarcasm in his voice, I still think he was being somewhat honest. It's funny, actually, as he headed outside and I proceeded to the first floor of the building, I was reminded of how old Bugs Bunny cartoons would have the arguing mini-angels and devils on the shoulders of various characters.

Unfortunately, my search turned up to be fruitless, and attempting to find my Calc professor for information was just as useless, since he was away from his office. But I realized that if I had Paul's license, I had the location of this residence. Thus, I got onto the first computer I found and Googled his address, which led me to his house number. Upon calling, I was met with four rings and an answering machine, where I explained the situation to whom I assume was his dad that recorded the message.

From there, it was playing the waiting game. I called Salmaan to see if he had found anything, but I guess he had already left campus. Typical of him, really. I don't think he even tried looking to begin with. I returned to my Calc classroom, asking the professor if anyone had asked about a wallet. She said no, but told me to turn it into the Lost & Found with DePaul Security. While I could have ended my quest at that point, I simply didn't want to be caught up with the bueraucracy of it all and intended to return it myself. Why get a middleman involved?

Anyways, I headed to the computer lab in order to print out a few things regarding the OChem lab I had in two hours. Naturally, I found myself on Facebook instead.

Facebook!

How could I have been so stupid? Of course the kid is on Facebook! Now, while I almost set my status to his name (stupid new Facebook relocating the Search box), I managed to find his profile rather quickly. I was hoping he'd have his cell phone number listed, but the only contact information displayed was his screen name. So I just left him a message saying that I had his wallet and to call me when he got it. Yet again, I was caught in the waiting game.

He called me about ten minutes later as I was noting how Lindsay feels how I'm nothing more than a pain in the neck (which, honestly, I won't argue with). We planned to meet up in the center of the campus, where there's a large statue of some disproportionate guy in front of the Student Center. There, I returned the wallet to it's rightful owner and we headed our separate ways.

In retrospect, I felt like a stalker trying to hunt this kid down. Sure, it was for a noble reason, but still, I'll probably do the same thing with some girl in the near future. Then again, who's to say I haven't? ;) But anyways, what exactly was I to achieve by helping this kid out? I received no reward aside from a simply "Thanks," and a Facebook message saying the same thing. He'll never know the extent of the trouble I went though nor how easy it could have been to taking the cash and running. And best of all, the kid seemed like the archetypal douchebag, my worst enemy (I mean, he had the word "bro" within his screen name!). And yet, that sense of satisfaction I got from taking an hour out of my day to make another's better seemed to be worth it.

So does that make me a selfish prick or what?