Not at the top of the heap

An ordinary life can be desirable. The perfect world does not have to be an over-abundance of the fine things in life or having a helicopter or a Lear Jet. In my mind, the ideal world would be one where rights as a human being are held sacred; where a man cannot be forced to give up his dignity in order to survive; where his voice can be heard even if it is just one small voice; where a poor man can have the chance to make a living without sacrificing his freedom.

The study of Economics tells us that resources are scarce and there is a limit to wealth. However limited wealth may be, and how scarce resources are, one's mind is boundless, his imagination limited only by what one can visualize. He will surely be able to raise himself by his bootstraps if wealth were not so inequitably distributed. If his dreams are not held back by the principles of Economics as practiced by modern-day corporations and governments, he would be able to raise his knowledge and expertise in many fields not excluding science and technology.

Thinkers and social commentators

We have seen the great minds of different eras and centuries present their idea of Utopia. All of these theories and doctrines stemmed from the common observation of social inequality in the world. Statesmen are motivated by the desire to provide the greatest good for the greatest number but watching the march of history proves only one thing: There is no Eden on earth. A friend of mine who eventually lost his marbles once proclaimed America to be heaven. His reasons were fairly reasonable foremost of which is that America makes Converse shoes, his favorites and, that in America there is Free Love. For these two reasons he has espoused the philosophy that America is not just Paradise but Heaven and when asked where hell was and he answered without hesitation: the Philippines.

We have seen the rape of Democracy in many parts of the world in the recent past where dictatorships thinly disguised as democratic flourished. Indonesia was ruled by the strogman Suharto for thirty years, the Philippines by Marcos for twenty years. In many parts of South and Central America military dictatorships flourished like banana plantations. Each one declared to be Democratic.

After the world-shaking People Power Movement in the Philippines, dictatorships have slowly been shown to be paper tigers unable to meet the onslought of an enraged populace. Successful in Pakistan but a disastrous failure in China, it has been emulated in many parts of the globe where in South Korea the military strongmen were thrown out of office and made to pay the price for abusing power by imprisonment and being put to shame. Desperately clinging to its tenuous hold on power is the Myanmar military dictatorship which insists on its brand of Democracy despite the global call for it to respect human rights and to allow real democracy to be implemented.

What makes utopia?

A Honda in the garage, perhaps a Toyota or a BMW; cable TV with all the sports channels, video on demand, movies and all the big blockbusters at your fingertips, the loudest or the sweetest music, a personal computer with the latest version of the Internet Explorer, gambling anytime at an online casino, dating the most beautiful women and sending them the best and most expensive flowers. Would this be one man's idea of Utopia? Could this be for everyone? Utopia must be for the general majority and not just for some select few,

Is it desirable to have only the best of the best and the cream of the crop? Would everyone having the best cars like Honda and Porsche not make the ownership of these cars merely ordinary? Wouldn't pressure be exerted to make even more expensive and classy cars? Music is freely available so with movies and video. With six billion people in the planet, it would not be so difficult to find a date if one is not so picky or obnoxious. Arriving at a girl's doorstep with a bunch of flowers would go a long way towards making a guy kinda likeable and cover whatever imperfections there might be, Is online casino a desirable thing? Men have a taste for gambling and taking chances but statistics show that very few succeed in gambling. Still, the hunger is there as evidenced by the proliferation of online casinos.

Sports has always been the traditional equalizer. One doesn't have to be rich or come from a privileged background to excel in sports. In fact, a talent in any of the sports is often a sure ticket to raising one's status and earnings. Muhammad Ali parlayed a gift of Jab coupled with a gift of Gab into a status so legendary very few can challenge or surpass. The amount of money a talented athlete can earn in his lifetime is staggering.

Lost Eden

Everyone has a picture, a feeling, a sense of a place which is ideal or perfect. Paradise is depicted as being a place where there is no disease, no want, no lack for anything which is needed for survival. It must have been such a boring place for Adam and Eve. Man has an inquisitive mind and it is constantly asking questions and wanting to find out how things work. To live in a place where he cannot be challenged because everything is provided for him must have driven Adam crazy. One can immediately surmise that this business of Paradise is really something impractical, or contrived, or something which does not exist at all.

How can I say this? Very easily. A simple observation tells us that the world is built on conflict. In the oceans which covers much of the earth the dictum is: Big fish eat Small fish. On land it is pretty much the same thing. Plants that cannot move are eaten by herbivores which are in turn lunch for the carnivores. One can also observe that there are more herbivores than carnivores which leads me to think that Nature has arranged for some balance to be preserved. The predators cannot increase so much in numbers or they will decimate their prey thereby dooming their species to sure extinction. This is probably the reason why only the strongest male or the Alpha male can mate with the females which ensures that the best genes are replicated while keeping the number of offspring down.

I suppose that Nature in its pristine form might be considered Paradise since there is a balance which gets automatically maintained without much thought by the residents therein. There is always enough food for everyone. The sick and the dying herbivores become easy prey to the meat-eaters which is a simple way to recycle resources while preserving the strength of the species. The old and the infirm will only slow down the herd and their demise can be seen as a sacrifice to better the chances of rest to survive and reproduce.