Written by: Steve Sisler. An excerpt from “The Qualifications,” a subtitle taken from Gumnazo; lessons in fighting naked copyright 2010 – to be released in 2011. Follow me on Twitter.

If you really love people from the heart, really care for them; it will qualify you to speak the truth to them. Loving people always begins and ends with them in mind not you.1 When you take an active interest in the life of another through the sincere appreciation for whom they are (Not necessarily what they do), it legitimizes your voice in their life. I’ll admit it, loving is really hard to do sometimes. There are some people that when I dream, I dream of kicking in their windpipe and most of the time I’m awake when dreaming it. I have to consistently be on guard against that side of me that always wants revenge or to be a national hero who fights injustice by kicking in peoples windpipes who I believe deserve it.

The reason why I think many potential leaders remain unheard and their thoughts virtually dismissed is because they speak out of a place of self-interest. In other words, everything they do is specifically designed to point back at them or bolsters their own inflated egos. Self-interest is the art of placing personal needs and desires ahead of the needs and desires of others in case you didn’t know.

Altruism on the other hand, is the deliberate pursuit of the interests or welfare of others without expecting a return. Nobody likes selfish people. There’s a part of me that hates them, but I have to tell that side to be quiet because I know hating isn’t good unless your hating the idea that you hate someone.