At first glance, my world felt distant from the bigger world after the recent national election. Initial observations led me to think nothing had changed.

The sun came up. They were smiling on Good Morning America. The Monitor waited outside my front door. The sky was blue. There were some clouds that followed me around, but I was still able to buy my iced coffee, get a bagel, think about Thursday, the weekend coming up. My world seemed about the same. Call it day one of the hope express.

But there is no doubt, I was numb.

I thought back to a question posed to me years ago. A dozen of us were taking a weeklong intensive series of classes on community organizing at the Industrial Areas Foundation in Chicago. About midway through one of the instructors came in, sat down, looked us over for a minute or two, and then he asked, “What makes the world go ’round?”

There began an engaging exploration about the role of self-interest, that for me continues to this day. The finer points of the discussion I would need to look up in whatever notes I may have taken. What I remember best was the idea of the question, the casual way he posed it and the importance he clearly saw in trying to lead us to the right answer.

What makes the world go ’round.

I always hear it as a statement not a question. It becomes an observation that commands to be taken to the very root of its understanding. Though the instructor in Chicago saw the answer as self-interest, over the years I have continued to consider other possibilities. You know, things like happiness, or money, or work. Sometimes I get muddied up in the concepts of empathy, caring or, dare I say, altruism. Do they even have a rank in this idea of the world going ’round?

Then, of course, there are the variations. There is “the” world, and there is “my” world. Two very different, yet overlapping realities that circle around each other all day long. Who cares what makes the world go around, as long as it doesn’t interfere with what makes my world go around. That is where what should be simple starts to get complicated.

Admit it, I do. What I really want is very simple. Being able to spend time with my family and friends. Their happiness. Being able to afford what we need. Work that is fulfilling. Maybe a little time at the piano playing Mozart, or to do some writing. Experiences that bring joy and enrichment to my life. Saving the world is a great concept, but I would rather have a world that didn’t need to be saved.

My world was in place and secure. I liked it. I knew what to expect. There was a sense of that’s done, mission accomplished, things are locked in, now I can move ahead and now I can rest, now I can rest, now I can . . . and then came this election of a new president.

Really, I don’t care who you are, you can’t help but think there could be trouble coming.

My ability to empathize with others is being shaken by self-interest. Or maybe a variation of self-interest is coming into conflict with my self-interest. All I know is things are falling out of drawers and cabinets and pockets and file folders. Skies filling with dark seem to be waiting just behind that super moon I saw the other night.

I wonder what to do. What will I need to do? What can I do? What is making the world go ’round that I seem to be missing?

A hypothetical digression to consider. Suppose my neighbors were undocumented immigrants. Suppose we had lived next to each other for years, shared meals, shared life stories, shared our street. Suppose a president wanted to pursue a policy of purge, and official enforcers came to take my neighbors away for deportation.

What will I do? Hide behind the curtain and watch as things unfolded? Maybe just pull the shades down and ignore their reality? Would I jeopardize my life for theirs? Or, would I cower and be thankful it wasn’t me or my family that was in trouble?

Would my self-interest be driven by self-preservation? Or would I see a bigger picture? Would I act in a manner that is true to my beliefs, in what I feel is right?

I hate thinking these kind of thoughts. They remind me of journal entries from long ago, before I started considering self-interest and what made the world go ’round. Before I became comfortable in who I was.

What does make the world go around? Me? You? Them? Or could it be some part of the human character that is called to act when we see things that are wrong?

From my seat at the window, I am a little worried about the possibilities coming down a road once free of hazards. I’m thinking about how others view their self-interest. Maybe it does make the world go ’round. Still, I’d like to think that self-interest doesn’t always win. I am hoping that we can still maintain our ability to care for each other, and challenge those who don’t see that as important.

(John Gfroerer of Concord owns a video production company based at the Capitol Center for the Arts.)