I agree with you, I am not calling anyone shallow or materialistic here, I guess what I am really trying to say in this post is, isn't it about time some of us do enrich the mind a bit before they enrich the body?
I indulge in 'self-centered' acts all the time, infact, I rarely do anything unless it suits me before anyone else, I think that is a part of the self preservation mechanism that many of us are in-bulit with.

Too many people focus on the bad in the world, and think that is all that there is, but as you said, there is so much more! I have lived my life with a bad heart (born with a rather large hole in it, but thats a whole new story) and have been through copious amounts of crap, but there is no way I want to let any of that beat me.

I think much of the problems of today stem from the media, wouldn't it be nice if people just disconnected every once in a while? Then again-- I wouldn't be having this convo with you if I did that, so there is an upside to the coin.