Self Interest vs Awareness

Adam Smith, one of the most relevant philosophers of all time explained to us how the world works. He wrote a book that spanned 5 volumes called the Wealth of Nations and he based his understanding of human behavior on the idea pfself interest postulate. The basic idea that the course of mans actions are dictated by the decision that appeals most to his self interest. A beautifully simple yet elegant idea.

I'm a firm believer in the idea of self interest. I believe that we should act in the way that best serves our interests. Yet if this is true then how is greatness born? Is greatness to be confused with selflessness? Can there truly be an act of selflessness? No says rationale, says logic.
Yet history has proven me wrong. I live in a world wherein I am being proved wrong every second of my life. As I write this, there is some act of greatness being committed in some part of the world that I'm unaware of.

Are these selfless acts borne of a sense of responsibility? An awareness of an abstract responsibility that we have towards the society we are part off. Does this awareness stem out of some perception of obligation? An obligation to your family perhaps? An obligation to your country perhaps? What is the source of this obligation? After all what have you consumed off this society that you have to be obligated for. Isn't obligation always a two way street? If I haven't taken anything then how is it that I am obliged to this faceless entity? I guess it is because at some level I understand that I am a product of my society as much as a product of my decisions. This society begins with my family but extends to the humanity of which I'm part off. The cognitive powers that become me is a gift of this society. And thus stems my obligation and thus my responsibility to this world.

So I guess in a way awareness became indeed the source of my responsibility. Self interest has been replaced by awareness as the driver of man's actions.

What if my responsibility to one entity can be at loggerheads to my responsibility to another? If my responsibility to my family dictates a course of action that is not the course of action that the responsibility to my country will dictate, which is the course of action that I should follow?

I guess the moral dilemma will be solved by choosing the course of action that is dictated by the responsibility that I am most aware off. Since in most situations we are most aware of the responsibility to self we choose the course of action that is in our interest. A mother more aware of her child's needs than probably her own, chooses a course of action that is dictated by her responsibility to the child. A leader more aware of the needs of those who follow him than his own might choose that course of action that might be selfless.

I suppose the capacity for self less action does exist. It only depends on us to become aware of the underlying conditions that precipitates it. Although I might never be able to understand what constitutes greatness , it may have somewhere in it a selfless act. An act born of the awareness of a responsibility to an entity greater than self.