The Selfish Act of Forgivness

Ayn Rand's philosophy of the Virtue of Selfishness may seem a little hard to grasp at times but the more I think about it the more I realize that our moral code is backwards. A good example is forgiveness of others. In an altruistic thinking forgiveness is seen as a gift to them which makes it dependent on whether they repented of the original deed and makes it harder because you may not care if the person has mended their life. In a selfish way of thinking it becomes a benefit for myself. In my own life I can think of a few people who make me really angry and it was impossible to forgive them in an altruistic system but I could do it using a purely selfish motive which was for my own emotional benefit. It did not depend on their behavior but depended on whether or not I wanted the anger to be a drag on my own life. This is a selfish motive because it was done for me alone and not for anyone else. It did not depend on whether or not these people accepted it or not because it was only done for my benefit only. It freed me from the control that others place on me which is why all virtues descend from selfishness and not from selflessness.