Perhaps what is best is to experience placing someone else ahead of yourself. This is what being a good parent is about. For most of us, that reality is a long way off, but I cannot think of a better example for requisite selflessness. For too long children have been ignored, starved of the parental love they require. They are placed in day care while real parents shirk their responsibilities in the name of career advancement.
Parents selfishly try to be their children's best friend without considering their child's needs.
Children may find limitless friends, but they are only granted two parents. If we're not careful, we'll bequeath our egotism to our children. Our history places us at the end of a long era of self-involvement, but it need not rob us of our sense of courtesy and decency. After all, to blame all this selfishness on our situation would be, well, selfish.