Altruism Vs. Selfishness

Right from the moment we start going to school we are being taught to be selfless..we are taught to serve others..to preserve the feelings of others..to make THEM happy..to respect them..work with them..cooperate..collaborate with them..! We are forced to believe that this is the only respectable way to live..! According to every renowned philosopher in the world..being selfish is evil..refusing to share yourself..your ideas..your feelings..your tangible possessions is considered to be mean..sign of a narrow grouchy mind n disposition..! Every man born is supposed to either pretend 2 be..or approve of Altruists/Altruism respectively. But in this horde of believing this concept blindly and forcing it down the throats of younger generation have we even bothered to investigate in the true meaning of altruism and selfishness?
Only one person has..and has helped me understand life..humanity and society better than any spiritual guide or religion..! and that woman is "Ayn Rand". Read "The fountainhead" recently..and marveled at her mind. Her immense power of steady observation, her analysis and her aptitude in working out patterns in this thoroughly predictable.."second-hand" society.
Everything she has tried to put forward has been known to mankind..but never investigated..because we are scared of uncovering the truth..it has been left untouched..people are scared to think about it..talk about it..as it would defile all their concepts of glorified 2nd hand living behind which they have been hiding all this while.
What society confers as altruism is actually 2nd hand living..seeking ourselves in others. When we confront a problem we don't think of what we think is the solution; we think of what others think is the solution. We work to be admired. We don't work to solve problems or for the love of it. We have learnt to live in the shelter of others approval. We have no judgment of our own left.
A truly selfish person is one who knows his worth and standards. Doesn't need to seek approval or approbation from others. They don't work for "humanity". They work because they like to work. Their mind doesn't think about what others would do in their situation. They are termed as egotists..and essentially they are egotists but it is a virtue which the masses can't achieve and therefore resent the few people who do have it..and thus have tried their best to stigmatize them.
I have stopped getting bothered by the thing i was fighting all this while ==>> The pretense people take up in projecting themselves as Altruists; I have understood that these so called "self proclaimed Altruists" are actually people seeking themselves in others..people without a self..an empty shell...and thus entities to be pitied.