This is interesting topic, and it is often a point of discussion within counseling. I suspect most people would gladly sacrifice self for others, family or friends or neighbors- even strangers. I think this is so true that it might be more cautious route to explore how not to sacrifice. I will try to explain.
This is the scenario i give folks to explore this. You're on an airplane, 39,000 feet. Your son is reading to your right, and your daughter is sleeping to the left, head against the window. The plane depressurizes. You see your son pass out. Most people pass out, daughter was already asleep, but you got lucky, you had air in your lungs. Who's mask do you put on first?
There is a right answer to this question, and Oprah used this analogy several times on her show. You would be surprised how many people can't or won't answer it. If there is even a hesitation, I do the error buzzer noise, and announce you and your family died. They complain it's an unfair test. I explain, they're unconscious, not dead. You put your mask on first. Securing your air supply means you don't pass out. You now have time to secure the air mask of your children.
Self sacrificing can be detrimental to the ability to serve. If your cup is empty, you can't give someone water! Too often, running on empty is seen as being caring, but if you're so depleted that you are toppled over by the first strong wind, or can't survive a crisis, how are you helping your family? Your friends? Your neighbors.
That said, there are times to self sacrifice. if someone came into my clinic and threw a grenade down on the floor, I'd like to think I would throw myself on the grenade. I have certainly done stupid enough things that put myself at risk. I have lived most of my life with such a sense of poor self worth that I think I should die over others. That may be a sign of poor psychological health. I use the fact I have fantasized of self sacrificing in order to increase my social value. That's human, too.
Maybe the trick is learning to love and appreciate ourselves as we are, because too often most of us would never tolerate a friend or love one expressing self doubt, but we all carry it none the less. Again, the metaphor given to us by Michael Jackson song, "man in the mirror," seem apt. we don't change the world by changing others. We change the world by changing ourselves. We rescue ourselves, we rescue the world. If I am good, the people around me will rise to my level. If I am down, they will sink to my level. If you are peaceful, people around you will be peaceful, or leave your presence because non peaceful can't abide peace.
