questions

what is it about human nature that makes us compare ourselves to others? strive to be better than the next guy? climb the corporate ladder? succeed? it ranks us among other people. is that so good a feeling? do we sleep better knowing that we have more success/money/respect than another? what, then, about those who are lower on these scales than us? do they lack ambition? even if they're one step beneath us, don't we make it known to them (as if they needed such input)? why do we feel our opinion needs to be heard, especially when few, if any, are actually listening? why do we stress self-learning, yet feel the need to teach people? do we really know what we think we do? science unveils new things every day, correcting our ideas and laying new foundations for others. and how do we learn of these scientific advances? from the scientist? or the journalist? is one higher up the scale than the other? can either be trusted for their claims of knowledge? we can only be certain of truth if we have found it out for ourselves. the writer and the critic are unique in their own right, and so much different from the reader. what the one conveys as knowledge according to his point of view, the other supports or questions according to another standpoint, and the reader adds yet another bias (but must be like-minded to understand either the truth or the argument against it).

why do we agree that everyone is unique, yet claim that everyone is capable of achieving the same success? why do we judge others as though we were any better? are we any better? is there such a status as "better"? none of us can escape death. and what we gain in life will be lost with it. "For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it." -2.21 what right do we have to be proud? live life to the fullest, all pleasure and no regrets. whether one dies in the mother's womb or after a hundred years on this planet, what is the difference? is the former "better" because he didn't know the hatred/disregard/hypocrisy every man seems to show toward at least one other person? is a hundred years too long to endure such idiocy?

why can't we tolerate the intolerant? why do we desire to assimilate but continue to note our differences? why do we hold ourselves in high regard and look down on people we know nothing about (or think we know something about)? why are we insulted when people misjudge us, yet act like we know so much about others? why do we see in stereotypes? why do we label people? why do we base our judgment of a person on what we believe about those labels? our understanding of one another is built on the foundation of our unique perspective. we can never truly know an other, so where is the sense in commenting on what are only our preconceptions of them?