Tuesday, August 27, 2019

The Best Shower I've Ever Taken Is Always My Most Recent Shower

The best shower I've ever taken is always my most recent shower; I'm exceptionally grateful for hot water and those before me who made it not only possible, but effortless. In a slightly similar vein of thinking, and something that causes me pause and deep reflection: anyone's problem is everyone's problem. We can isolate and rationalize, and there are definitely folks who reap their negative sowing (and calling them out for it is just a form of rationalizing), but at 7 billion, everything aggregates. Sometimes those ripples cross geographical barriers and cross generations, making them difficult to see, but they ripple nonetheless. It's soul crushing for an individual to take on the burden of 7 billion, and it's certainly not feasible, but what is the consequence of doing nothing? What's the consequence of acquiring power and/or money (or both) and not only doing nothing, but seeking out the weaknesses of others and calling them out for it? The aggregate good! -- perhaps it's impossible, perhaps nothing quenches the individual's absolute thirst for survival. I've always assumed the human brain evolved to transcend its own biology, but if we are just someone else's lunch, we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to extend life, and that may be the most unnatural activity on our planet.