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We each proclaim our greatness, cowering behind the battlements of our inherited constructions, supported by our cultural crutches and social traditions. We fret and frown over the impermanence of our mortal state and cast an envious eye upon those who appear to have more material wealth than ourselves; but are they any happier, are they more at peace with themselves? The destitute millions who make up the majority of this planet’s inhabitants are beneath our consideration until some cataclysm of gargantuan proportions, beamed into our living rooms by Sky News, wipes out thousands of them, and pricks our consciences until we donate a meagre sum of money to ease the embarrassment of our schadenfreude. Talking of natural disasters: human life has been described by some as a creeping virus on planet Earth and by others as “post-natal depression”! Every city and county has a book containing the names of murderers, child molesters, thieves, confidence tricksters and the criminally insane: it’s called a telephone directory. Our lives are ultimately a tragedy, we all die in the final scene, there’s no escape; but look on the bright side, the worst is yet to come! Of course we are selfish! It is naïve to think otherwise and so have we always been. The human race would not have continued without a kind of tribal self interest, it is part of the survival instinct. Oh yes! There are the occasional unselfish ones who work and suffer for the good of others, but could they be a mutation to be viewed with caution, as freaks with a weakness and possibly bad for the species? If more of us were to show these tendencies Homo sapiens might become adulterated and eventually overwhelmed. (Discuss)!
John Ward - - January 2005 |