I believe that we have a cultural obsession with things getting better. Corporate profits MUST rise. Gross domestic product (whatever the hell that is) MUST go up. Teenage pregnancies, smoking related deaths, the deficit and unemployment numbers MUST go down. Well, clearly no one else wants to ask the question, so I will. Why? Why MUST life constantly improve? When did we become so burdened with this need for things to always get better? Im pretty sure that if we go back in time far enough well find that our ancestors didnt stress over it. Life was good, then it was bad, then it was the same, then it got good again, etc. For millions of years, things rarely got great and often got horrible. Which is why I believe our relentless drive to improve on the status quo is a fairly recent occurrence. Furthermore, I pinpoint its origin with Darwins Theory of Evolution, which I believe mistakenly implies that its in the nature of nature to get better. We all know the deal, amino acids improve to amoebas, which improve to jelly fish, blah, blah, blah, homo sapiens (assuming evolution ends with us, which it doesnt). But what about this progression implies better? Ill grant you that evolution creates complexity, but better? Isnt that really just the snobbery of the complex talking? Speaking from personal experience, I have a memory of being twelve years old, standing and watching nervously while my father looked over my report card. After a bit of frowning, he took off his glasses, looked down at me and said, You MUST do better. Boy, I showed him. Not only did my grades not improve, shortly thereafter I discovered marijuana and turned into a jelly fish. As a dear friend of mine likes to say, God made us perfect and she never changed her mind.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 04:12:12 +0000
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