PHOTOGRAPHY
Joe Marchant
MODELS
Gemma Steele
L O C AT I O N
Flora & Fauna Studios, London
The Importance of Balancing Selflessness With Selfishness AUTHOR: GEMMA STEELE
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here was a time when you were a blank canvas. A time before the long tendrils of life pushed and prodded you, drained you of your childhood exuberance and manipulated you into adulthood. For nothing but a mere second, we are unblemished: naked, not just physically, but mentally too. And then we start to learn. Like some sort of superpowered vacuum-sponge hybrid, we absorb any and every lesson we can. Some lessons are instinctual: we’re born with a predisposition to eat, sleep, breathe, (and repeat). Other lessons are picked up through imitation, like learning that chairs are for sitting on, or that the weather is always, always a reliable topic of conversation. Then we have explicit lessons. That is, lessons that are taught with the good
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intention of teaching. ‘Treat others how you would like to be treated’ is probably one of the first explicit lessons children are taught. It’s woven into children’s books; it’s the foundation of almost every major religion; it’s even frequently referred to as the ‘golden rule’, yet I wish it wasn’t. It’s not that I don’t believe in this ‘golden rule’. It holds generosity, compassion and altruism at its core, so it’s fairly easy to get on board with. Even admitting my disagreement of such an agreeable, altruistic rule summons such feelings of guilt. I promise I’m not evil. I wouldn’t say I’m unkind or uncompassionate. In fact, I only disagree with the golden rule because I’ve absent-mindedly followed it my whole life.
