Live or Survive

Do you like waking up early in the morning, stretching out, going to the balcony, taking in deep breath of fresh air, and hear the sweet chirping sound of the birds? Peaceful and calm right? No. Not actually. The birds are looking for food, gulping down worms and insects, fighting with each other, for partners, territory and what not. Anything but sweet. This is because, the life in animal kingdom is governed by three entities: "Food", "Mate" and "Territory". But don't be grossed out, this is how the planet itself, from its very inception, has been designed to work. In fact, you, right here, right now, are a part of the same process.

These are not my words. I am not presenting my own theory here. This is all just rewording Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. Survival of the fittest, that the ultimate goal of every living organism on this planet is to make sure their own DNA is carried forward. On the other hand, nature wants to select only the best strand DNA. And this is where all the competition creeps in.

Fortunately, we live in a civilized society and we don't have to fight for our food. But we do have to compete to earn money, which is basically the same. Fights for acquiring a partner? That's pretty common. And fights for territory or property? Let's not even talk about that.

And this my friends, is the very reason driving our lives right now. We want to be a good public speaker, obviously for social and financial benefits. We want to be leaders of our teams or companies, earn more money, live a better life, make a better life for our children. Everything ultimately, one way or other, will trickle down to the one and only goal: "survival".

But is that all humanity has to offer? Is it really so ruthless and selfish? Forgive me for painting such a sad and violent picture till now. There are actually aspects of human life that Darwin's theories fail to comprehend. We like listening to music, for no apparent survival benefits. We help strangers whom we would never meet again. We fall in love with dogs and cats and birds. We go climbing mountains, intentionally lowering our chances of survival. And we humans, also come to Toastmasters club meetings just to make a fool out of ourselves.

It'd be a logically incorrect advice, but I must say this. Don't spend your entire lifetime chasing the three golden entities "Food", "Mate" or "Territory". Because we're meant to live, not only survive.