Jennifer, Well it was just an interesting concept that I think Penny touched on below. That without those things [not necessarily only those things] in our lives that are driven and defined foundationally as selfishly derived acts we would not that have the ability to be selfless because there would be no contrast for selflessness to be viewed against. It is like the difference between looking at white chalk on a black chalkboard and no chalk on a black chalkboard. We would just be selfless without knowing we were.
Penny, when our reputation is at stake, we [typically speaking] usually are more likely to be selfless, but, the root our selfless actions are still planted in selfish soil because we do it for the sake of OUR reputation.