Complete Selflessness

I believe that question #42 in The Fountainhead socratic seminar guide is a very interesting question to ask oneself or others. This question is brought about in the novel by the character Ellsworth Toohey who states, "A totally selfless interest in one's fellow men is possible in this world, Peter." The overall question was asked, is this statement honestly true? In class we discussed how Ayn Rand believe that it was impossible for a human being to be completely selfless, because she believed that people would be selfless to better themselves and for thier own purpose. For example, during our class discussion someone brought up the fact that mothers would selflessly give their lives for their children, but Ayn Rand believed that this was not complete selflessness, but instead being selfish. Ayn Rand gave evidence for this theory by saying that a mother who would give her own life for her children was being selfish in the fact that she wanted to protect what was most precious to her, her treasure, which would be her children. So the overall motive of the mother would be to save her "treasure." After hearing this example in class, it really got me thinking. Until we really delved down deep into the question of complete selflessness, I never really thought too much about the fact that complete selflessness might not even exist. In the novel, The Fountainhead, Ellsworth Toohey appears to be selfless towards Peter Keating with helping him be successful with his work and setting up clientle for his architecture profession. However by the end of the novel, it is realized that Ellsworth Toohey just wanted some loyal followers who would not stand in his way with his dream of taking over everything, including The Banner, which was controlled by Gail Wynand. After really thinking about the question of complete selflessness, I have come to the conclusion that selflessness does in fact exist. People like police officers and firefighters give their lives, and put themselves in harms way for people who they dont even know everyday. Why should Ayn Rand be the person to question this thought? After hearing about her history and childhood, I could understand how she could eventually question complete selflessness in human beings, but Ayn Rand has so many theories and practically an entire dufferent way of thinking and portrayng human beings, so I really didnt believe her theories or understand her questions and concepts from the beginning. Overall in my opinion, complete selflessness does indeed exist, and is shown every single day in the world and society which we live in.