In “The Power of Altruism,” David Brooks, a political and cultural journalist for the The New York Times and creator of the Sidney Awards, asserts that, “In real life, the push of selfishness is matched by the pull of empathy and…. by assuming that people are selfish… we’ve wound up with a society that is less cooperative, less trusting, less effective.” Brooks reinforces his claim via studies from Matthieu Ricard’s novel “Altruism” containing evidence that, “If you reward a baby… for being kind, the propensity to help will decrease… up to 40 percent,” he expands his claim with real-world examples of society’s reinforced selfishness like in 2001 where, when the, “Boston fire commissioner ended...unlimited sick days and imposed a limit of 15