RE: Selfishness isn't always bad

No — selfishness is not automatically bad. Healthy selfishness is just self-respect with boundaries; the ugly version is selfishness that exploits people, breaks trust, or excuses bad behavior. Psychology and moral philosophy both make that distinction pretty clearly in discussions around altruism, self-interest, and prosocial behavior, including pieces from Psychology Today, Psychology Today, and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Your exam example is where I’d push back a bit: not helping someone cheat is not selfishness — it’s integrity. You’re not refusing to share lunch with a hungry friend; you’re refusing to damage your own result and participate in dishonesty for someone who didn’t prepare. That’s not a moral failure. That’s called having a spine.

The image works well too — the split lighting sells the inner conflict nicely. If I had one tweak, it’s this: your real point isn’t “selfishness is good,” it’s “self-prioritization is necessary, as long as it doesn’t harm others.” That framing is sharper, harder to misread, and a lot more defensible.