On charitably saving others

I cannot be condemned as unreasonable if I reject a principle that would require me to abandon most of the substance of my life to save yours.

If I were to give up or abandon as one of the affluent to the destitute, the cumulative effect on my  individual life  to give to those who are very much worse off than yourself, whatever other affluent people are doing, would simply rule out the pursuit of a wide range of individualistic values – aesthetic, hedonistic, intellectual, cultural, romantic, athletic and so forth. 

Therefore, I cannot be condemned as unreasonable if I reject a principle that would require me to abandon most of the substance of my life to save yours.

OK, go on, call me selfish.