The Unknown Quantity

Humans are embodiments of selfishness. This is a must-have trait as a human being. Some may express this quality in everyday life, others need some stimulus to reveal this quanitity. We, humans, are born as an unknown quantity into the world. Unknown to world, nor known to self. However, over time, we reveal our true nature without us knowing. Some learned the way to survive in this world, selfish,  by accumulating experience. Others need some dramatic events, mostly tragic to reveal this nature. There are many literature works and movies that showed this, such as The Mist, Lord of the Flies, etc. Some only show their selfishness under extreme condition when life and death is on the betting table. Picture each human being as a sealed barrel. You have no idea how much water they have in them. Some may have some parts that are transparent, showing the bottom of water. You know they are selfish, but you just don't know how selfish they are. When a dramatic event happen, they spill their barrel, at that point, you know what they are truly made of. The selfishness and evilness one hids deep under their heart. I believe although selfishness can be revealed in normal life, only under extreme tragic events such as getting haunted by creepy stuff or stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere would one's true "potential" be revealed. Therefore, yes, I believe that only under those crazy and mad situations can one's quanitiy be known and defined.