Many times I sit and ponder the unanswerable questions in life, from sensitive topics like religion and death to more common debatable ones like money and economics. The virtue of man has dipped and swayed along the cord of morality for centuries, playing songs of disgust and melancholy then tunes of hope and sincerity.
Time has consistently shown us how man has failed in his ideal and triumphed in the glory of ethics. To put it simply human nature is replicated in every social, political and economic construct. We are beings with flaws; its popular belief even if many won't admit it, that we must first fail in order to be successful. We see this in every aspect of our lives, the great Wayne Gretzky played for three seasons in the NHL before winning the Stanley Cup and Michael Jordan played in the NBA for six years before he won a championship. Both super star athletes in their respective sport but both tasting defeat before winning. While many entrepreneurs generally have had several businesses before they actually settle on their path to success. Success is based on competition I believe and that's what we are taught. We are generally taught to be better than the other person and not to be a better person. We live in a world that has been extremely competitive. That may be the nature of man but what would happen if we subtracted mans competitive desires from not all but some elements of life? Would we become a soulless and weak society, that doesn't necessarily have to be the case as many would believe?
In western society everything is about the fastest, strongest or the brightest, we must be number one in what we do. Man has somehow lost his compassion and communal instincts. Everyone nowadays don't care, it's all mind your own business, nine times out of 10 if you're in a restaurant and some guy is talking to someone with total disrespect and disregard people will ignore it. And act as if they're not actually hearing the abuse. That within its self can a be a bi-product of capitalism, don't get me wrong I'm not saying capitalism is all bad but I'm just searching for a better way. A capitalist society Karl Marx said was just a natural progression that human society would make eventually becoming stagnant due to internal contradiction and would eventually be followed by socialism. Are we any close to socialism and what would that construct look like in this day and age? When socialism comes to mind the one thing most people think about is poverty and I am not promoting that idea. With all the inventions and technological advancements we have made, is there anything better than capitalism. Can we formulate a new construct that is just as innovative and revolutionary as inventions that make our lives easier? I believe it can be done but maybe we are too focused on money and self satisfaction to accomplish such a feat. One thing's for sure, based on how vain we have become as a society we are millennia away from such a lifestyle.
My mother always said to me "those who can't hear, will feel," which I often did. "Don't go out in the rain Corey," I ignore her words and then two days later I end up sniffling and sneezing all day long.
What will be the repercussions of our current social construct, I truly fear that the outcome whatever it may be disastrous. I once heard a saying which has stuck with me to this day "societies either die or reinvent themselves." We have been extremely greedy and our wants have surpassed our needs. Winston Churchill once said "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery," while one of my favourite leaders Fidel Castro said "I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is alienating... because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition." Both men right in their own way but both opinions I find would be the extreme case to which man can take each ideal. There has to be another way, there has to be, mind you I don't know what I would do without my Xbox but after some time without it the Serengeti, I'm sure I'd find new meaning to life as it would be less complicated.
