The Lame Shall Enter First by Flannery O'Conner

While reading, "The Lame Shall Enter First", One idea kept popping into my head. The story on the surface seemed to be about helping out the less fortunate and the strain that selfishness puts into a relationship. Sheppard appears to be this caring man who wants nothing more than to see Rufus Johnson better himself and his own son, Norton, to learn selflessness through his own selflessness.
Sheppard in all reality had the need of being needed. After losing his wife, he senses a longing for someone or something else that he can support. He couldn't find fufillment for his need in his son, Norton, so he choose the neediest person of all, Rufus. He feels that if he can change this boys life, then there is nothing he can't do. Sheppard believes that he knows everything and the outcome that follows. He truly wants to help Rufus, but it is his need that compells him to do so.
In the end, it is Sheppard's selfishness that causes him to lose both his battle with Rufus and everything that he holds dear to himself. Sheppard spent so much time looking at the bad and distasteful traits that others posessed, that he didn't realize the hippocrite that he had become. So it was Sheppards need to be needed that pushed his most loved posession over the edge.