Geographically, in the greater sense of the universe, human beings have been around for a few thousand years, effectively surviving and thriving in the time it took Jason Biggs' character to have an orgasm in American Pie.Isn't it remarkable, then, that in that extremely short amount of time, we've caused so much degradation, destroyed so many habitats, and ruined the lives of so many other species on earth, along with ourselves? We are capable of so much more than the wildebeest living in Africa, and yet we have consistently, time after time, done just as much bad as we have good.
The 'good' I speak of, of course, refers to what we've done to propel ourselves up the ladder in the animal kingdom - what inventions we've made to prevent us from being lion food, the weapons we've forged to fight off the Megalodons. In other words, all that we've done as a species is ensure our further propagation. I suppose you could call that a success, and indeed that's what animals use to mark their success in the world, whether or not they can survive. The only things we've done are entirely self-serving, and utterly meaningless in the scope of the universe.
Everything is meaningless in the cosmic sense. Nothing ever holds significance because it's all going to be gone when the Big Crunch happens. Armed with that knowledge in mind, wouldn't it be ideal for everyone on earth to just get along? The wars, the conflicts over oil and energy and money are all futile because you're all going to die. That's just the reality. I believe the phrase "Make love, not war," applies about ten times over in this situation. Life is what you make of it, and when you fill it with war, self-righteousness, and hypocrisies, one would think you're doomed to a life of misery, but they somehow manage to still believe what they're doing is right.
People are vain. They're susceptible to making rash decisions based on impulse and floods of hormones. That's what makes us human. What else makes us human? The ability to make rational decisions and exercise judgment. That, in my opinion, is what we should pride ourselves on. But history shows us that the average human is more likely to act impulsively, aggressively, fearfully, and without reason. See: the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust. Whatever we can't control, we actively seek to destroy so that the issue of not being able to control it no longer bothers us. But look at what rationality and reasoning has brought us. Democracy, the notion of liberty, business, and countless other things. There's almost a perpetual split between absolute pants-on-head retarded impulsiveness and stalwart rational thought. We humans, we're in a permanent state of drifting between PMS and normality. And when it's that time of the month, our periods are so bad we need to control it with medication.
In all seriousness, this whole, very rambly and inarticulate entry was just to show how my misanthropy has kind of tempered. Mankind is capable of the worst things you can imagine. We will commit atrocities without a second thought, all in the name of some abstract cause. But in the rare instances where we aren't indulging our impulsive whims, like juggling breadsticks, we're capable of so much. We can improve our world in so many ways, we just have to take our birth control pills and start taking the initiative. Because when the time comes, we'll want to have something to show to the Tralfamadorians. And I believe we're fully capable of that if we just try. The Greeks did it, our Founding Fathers did it, and our economic prosperity speaks volumes of our success. Just gotta pull our heads out of our asses and stop yapping about terrorists. There are more pressing matters, like building hovercars and colonizing Mars.
PS. I expect absolutely no one to get the jokes I made in this entry. And by no one, I mean stupid people.
Friday, December 19, 2008
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