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No sacrifice?

The partially completed Kek Lok Si
temple in Penang in 1905. It holds
the dark secret of a melancholic
monk with self-inflicted wounds
after his tireless endeavours to
rebuild the temple was sabotaged
and bad-mouthed. In its annals
too, woven are the intriguing
narrations of the selfless services
of a young Dr Wu Lien Teh
who nursed him back to health.
What is a sacrifice? Is it an overused word with its meaning taken for granted? A suicide bomber is making a sacrifice when he decides to blow himself to smithereens to make a statement or to martyr himself for the good of those who share the same belief as him? Is he not being selfish as his own remunerations that await him in the afterlife? Is he being selfless or selfish when he plunges the red button?

 Is the symbolism of death on The Cross the ultimate sacrifice for the human race? Is it true altruism when able bodies with the spring of youth ahead of them give up their earthly pleasures to serve God and the downtrodden? Can volunteers who endanger themselves in the vein of Father Damien to care for lepers or Franciscan friars signify the pinnacle of human renouncement?

 Are politicians or pop stars who clamour to be afront flashes of pixels to be seen giving and caring, spread more goodness to the world? 

 Is it sacrifice when a hungry mother willingly serves the only remaining bowl of broth to her offspring knowing well that she can withstand hunger pangs better than her young? Or is the random kindness that one extends to a stranger, but then there is no sacrifice, is there? Should it be just second nature to help?

 Should we just send another soul as a sacrificial lamb and claim that we had forgone something close to gain points? Some insist that living a simple life, forfeiting simple pleasures of life beget special considerations for Judgement Day.
Lt. Col. Arnaud Jean-Georges Beltrame (18 April 1973 – 24 March 2018)
killed by ISIS terrorists after having exchanged himself for a hostage. [Wiki]
Or is it in a selfless act of devoting one's life to an obviously bleak situation, knowing pretty well the outcome just because it is your job?

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