The "I" Gene

"Observers of catastrophes are wrong to imagine that the victims will learn from them. So long as the masses remain the passive object of politics they will never be able to view what happens to them as an experiment, merely as fate; they learn no more from the catastrophe than a guinea pig learns about biology."

- Brecht's take on war as a note on his play,Mother Courage and Her Children

That's quote of the day.

I've finished reading Mother Courage. It is one of those plays that would remain relevant till the end of humanity. The quote above is the basis of the play. That we don't learn from war or catastrophes. War is equally good or bad as peace. And Brecht has brought out his theory of Epic theatre its "distancing effect" wonderfully through this play. The audience/reader is always kept at a distance. We do not fall into the trap of sympathising with the characters. We are only observers as the events unfold in front of our eyes. And we learn with growing alarm of the effects of war on humans. That they are not profound or long lasting. This shocking conclusion is the central theme of this play. Go read it.

Similarly, catastrophes and "serious" events that occur in our lives don't have such a big effect on us. Broke up with your boy/girlfriend who you've been seeing for a long time and thought was the love of your life? You feel bad for a few days, weeks. And you move on. Go look for love elsewhere. Your dad, grandad, grand mom, close friend/relative passed away? You mourn his/her death for a while. You miss him/her. Next weekend you go out for dinner and a movie. Point here that I'm trying to make is this - we are all individuals at the end of the day. Our instincts tell us to survive in spite of (in the face of) mounting odds. Survive. Live life. This makes us selfish.

We are selfish. Didn't you know? We all have selfish genes in us. The only difference between you and me is that I realised this. You haven't. You pretend to be selfless, at least neutral. Stop being a fool. I know you are selfish. We all do. We just think we aren't as bad as you. Truth is we are all made of the same garbage with a stinking core called "I".

So you are wondering, this fello is saying he is selfish and I am selfish and everyone is selfish. Then why is he telling this big truth to everyone instead of keeping it to himself or better still, telling select few who'll give him something in return?

I am telling you this because, henceforth, I don't have to waste time being nice to you. You, being the deluded idiot that you are, will continue to be nice to me in the hope that someday I will come around or worse, in the belief that you are being a superior human being!

Duh. What an idiot.

Now do you understand why I never liked you?

PS: Did you notice 'mom' missing from the list? Death of the mother is equivalent to severing ties with the rest of the world. You then turn into an existentialist. Hence the absence from the list.