How is it that we make such messes in our world?
One animal kills another because of necessity and because it has to eat. A human kills another because he/she is in the way, is inconvenient, or might prevent them from succeeding.
Does this stem from the fact that we can “think” and the shark or lion (evolutionarily speaking, a far more capable killing machine) has no concept of success or failure but only survive or die.
Many people say that the modern human creature has very few (some say none!) residual instincts left over from our time when we weren’t the top of the food chain – when the good ol’ sabertooth tiger was a pretty decent threat. Oh, I would challenge that “survival” is a pretty significant one that remains. It may boil down to survival, right? One nation goes to war against another, kills another out of fear: “this person poses a threat to me.”
You are right to wonder what the heck I’m talking about, all this talk of violence and killing. Take it one step back, maybe not so dramatic: lies, cheating, personal attacks, verbal and physical assaults, character assassination, stealing… how long could the list be!?
Or simply: we hurt other people when, in reality, they pose no real threat. In these terms the bridges we burn are unnecessary. Speaking in terms of “survival of the fittest”: the pain we cause others have no evolutionary merit. What purpose would one lion have to hurt the FEELINGS of another lion, they’re all just trying to not starve on the African plains?
Maybe we should take more of a “survival” approach to our relationships – friends, significant others, family included. Instead of being driven by jealousy, could we live with a simpler mindset? Getting caught up in our First World Problems aside, you have no lions or bears or sabertooth tigers to fend off in the urban jungle. Likely, you will survive and actually prosper! What need is there to step on and hurt people on the way to the top: there are plenty of examples of monetary/worldly success that did not require the killing and maiming of everyone.
It is just the selfishness that remains. Imagine a world free of selfishness…!
So, my readers: make friends, not enemies. The bridges that you don’t don’t burn will still be there when you are in need.
Stay tuned…
-Noah D.
