He who has truly evolved
There are moments when little things make me so happy and until recently I didn't know why.
Not too long ago [isn't EVERY moment "not too long ago" for me? lol] I was entering a train station and went to the machine to buy a metrocard [the cards we fill with money (emphasis on fill. Fuck the MTA!) in order to ride the subway] when a younger man walked up to me as he was leaving the station and gave me his card to use.
The other day, an older man offered me a seat and I was wowed for a minute because I hadn't been offered a seat in a while.
It is these "little" gestures of kindness and consideration that touch me because they remind me that we ARE human. On a daily basis I am being told that we are not human beings interacting. We are serial numbers, social security numbers, account numbers, reference numbers, case numbers anything other than a person with a name and (hi)story. Generally speaking we don't care about each other.
I had an interesting conversation with Stormy [my oldest brother for those just tuning in] a few days ago now more like a month ago about capitalism. In part of the conversation he was trying to convince me to go into the corporate world [can y'all imagine ME in the corporate world? the shit will have hit the fan and my face for that to go down] and at some point said "you have to look out for self. you have to look out for number one." I told him that was a fucked up way of looking at life. That we do not get through life on our own. And I reminded him that literally two days prior I needed his and my cousin's help and without that help I wouldn't have been speaking to him because I would have had no electricity to charge my cell phone. He then went on about how I can always count on him [nicely avoiding the larger point I was trying to make].
But beyond him being my brother and her being my cousin why don't we all look after each other? We're all in this world together right? And we realize that it is impossible to survive and truly evolve on our own as well [don't we?]. I mean, you CAN live as a hermit, but if the loneliness doesn't kill you, the cicadas might. We are naturally social animals. In fact, what sets us apart from other animals is the ability to perform "sophisticated" communication, which is the basis of our interaction. So since we're supposed to be the more advanced lifeforms why don't we actually act like it?
I think Darwin set us back millions of years [literally] when he came up with "survival of the fittest." It unintentionally [I'm assuming this wasn't his intentions] has been transformed to mean one person surpassing all others on their own because of something unique to their personal gene pool which determined it. Arrogance made people cling to this misinterpretation of Darwin. The problem is no one looks at it in the broad sense. But we have to remember he was speaking about evolution. Us as human beings have evolved over time. Not one mofo with a lightbulb, but us as a human race are what evolved. He was speaking about whole species and their evolution, not one ass zebra that made it despite the other zebras, but rather because of the other zebras.
The cat who discovered fire didn't make it and keep only himself warm and cook his OWN mountain lion or wooly mammoth. Had he done that, the species would've stopped with his stingy ass right there all warm on his own. The chick who discovered/created the first wheel didn't keep this new item to herself and watch everyone else try "rolling" square items while she glided down the hill. We've taken this "I'm out for #1" madness and ran with it despite it actually being the opposite of what he was essentially saying. A species can not evolve because of one person. And one person can not evolve without his/her peers. We are ALL the fittest. We've all already survived. The only way we will continue to evolve is to work together.
This entry was a long time coming. Anyhoo...
Happy Birthday to My Ro Ro!!!
Not too long ago [isn't EVERY moment "not too long ago" for me? lol] I was entering a train station and went to the machine to buy a metrocard [the cards we fill with money (emphasis on fill. Fuck the MTA!) in order to ride the subway] when a younger man walked up to me as he was leaving the station and gave me his card to use.
The other day, an older man offered me a seat and I was wowed for a minute because I hadn't been offered a seat in a while.
It is these "little" gestures of kindness and consideration that touch me because they remind me that we ARE human. On a daily basis I am being told that we are not human beings interacting. We are serial numbers, social security numbers, account numbers, reference numbers, case numbers anything other than a person with a name and (hi)story. Generally speaking we don't care about each other.
I had an interesting conversation with Stormy [my oldest brother for those just tuning in] a few days ago now more like a month ago about capitalism. In part of the conversation he was trying to convince me to go into the corporate world [can y'all imagine ME in the corporate world? the shit will have hit the fan and my face for that to go down] and at some point said "you have to look out for self. you have to look out for number one." I told him that was a fucked up way of looking at life. That we do not get through life on our own. And I reminded him that literally two days prior I needed his and my cousin's help and without that help I wouldn't have been speaking to him because I would have had no electricity to charge my cell phone. He then went on about how I can always count on him [nicely avoiding the larger point I was trying to make].
But beyond him being my brother and her being my cousin why don't we all look after each other? We're all in this world together right? And we realize that it is impossible to survive and truly evolve on our own as well [don't we?]. I mean, you CAN live as a hermit, but if the loneliness doesn't kill you, the cicadas might. We are naturally social animals. In fact, what sets us apart from other animals is the ability to perform "sophisticated" communication, which is the basis of our interaction. So since we're supposed to be the more advanced lifeforms why don't we actually act like it?
I think Darwin set us back millions of years [literally] when he came up with "survival of the fittest." It unintentionally [I'm assuming this wasn't his intentions] has been transformed to mean one person surpassing all others on their own because of something unique to their personal gene pool which determined it. Arrogance made people cling to this misinterpretation of Darwin. The problem is no one looks at it in the broad sense. But we have to remember he was speaking about evolution. Us as human beings have evolved over time. Not one mofo with a lightbulb, but us as a human race are what evolved. He was speaking about whole species and their evolution, not one ass zebra that made it despite the other zebras, but rather because of the other zebras.
The cat who discovered fire didn't make it and keep only himself warm and cook his OWN mountain lion or wooly mammoth. Had he done that, the species would've stopped with his stingy ass right there all warm on his own. The chick who discovered/created the first wheel didn't keep this new item to herself and watch everyone else try "rolling" square items while she glided down the hill. We've taken this "I'm out for #1" madness and ran with it despite it actually being the opposite of what he was essentially saying. A species can not evolve because of one person. And one person can not evolve without his/her peers. We are ALL the fittest. We've all already survived. The only way we will continue to evolve is to work together.
This entry was a long time coming. Anyhoo...
Happy Birthday to My Ro Ro!!!