I love my kids, they bring me joy, and I am partially selfish. Even though I’m happy to give money and work on EA causes, it’s not my entire life, and I’m partially selfish. Kids are part of my “being selfish” budget.
More than that, I think it’s a reasonable long term decision. Just like I feel that I would be short term and irresponsible to spend 100% of my disposable income on charitable giving, since it would be unsustainable, I feel that abstaining from things that make my life joyful would be a bad decision. At the very least, I am nearly certain that I would have regretted not doing so, and I think that I would have been upset with my past self’s values for making that decision. (This is one of several answers.)
Partial Selfishness / Sustainability
I love my kids, they bring me joy, and I am partially selfish. Even though I’m happy to give money and work on EA causes, it’s not my entire life, and I’m partially selfish. Kids are part of my “being selfish” budget.
More than that, I think it’s a reasonable long term decision. Just like I feel that I would be short term and irresponsible to spend 100% of my disposable income on charitable giving, since it would be unsustainable, I feel that abstaining from things that make my life joyful would be a bad decision. At the very least, I am nearly certain that I would have regretted not doing so, and I think that I would have been upset with my past self’s values for making that decision.
(This is one of several answers.)