At our core and from the start, we are all incredibly selfish. Typically, when you have kids, that gets leeched out of you a little bit at at time and also rams home how selfish we are from the get go, as children are the most selfish things on the planet...yet there are moments of clarity and when the light shines in
It doesn't mean you won't help others, it means that the majority of motivations, actions, thoughts in life are based in self interest...not all, but I would wager most.
Wow, what a masculine, positivist, individualist perspective. There is a large body of social psychological theory that ascribes to this self-interest motivation perspective. But most of these studies come from research conducted by EuroAmerican males in Western countries. There is plenty of other research focusing on feminine, non-western, collectivist cultures that paint a very different picture.
How many times have you wondered why your wife is worried about what someone else thinks? Ever think she might be really just concerned about how someone else feels and how there could also be implications for others, i.e., kids, etc. Do you ever look at your wife and think, "She is just more kind than me?"
Do you think doctors and other aid professionals are risking their lives going into Ebola ravaged areas for selfish reasons?
Our country preaches radical individualism and capitalism. Each of these is an extreme self-interest perspective. But they are just ideologies, not the foundation of natural existence. The education, religion, media, and other influences that have constituted your identity are steeped in this ideology to the extent that you see the ideology as natural, but that doesn't make it so.
Tahlequah is a stones throw from you. Really spend some time learning about Cherokee history and culture. Then come back and say that the average Cherokee was primarily selfish prior to having it beat into them.
Your use of kids as an example is problematic on a number of grounds. Kids are born without the ability to walk. Does that mean not walking is our natural state? As kids in our culture develop, they are indoctrinated in individualist, capitalist ideology. When they exhibit behavior associated with this ideology we say, "look, it's natural." That kind of thinking lies at the very heart of an ethnocentric perspective.