Quixotical

Death, War, Greed, Hate, Finance, Cancer, Aids, Poverty, Differential Equations.

One of the traits of being human is that we like to solve problems. Fortunately, we’re nowhere near having a shortage of them to solve. What if, however, we could solve them all? Imagine if you will a world in which there is no disease, no poverty, no hate, and no crime. Imagine a world in which terms like ‘greed’, ‘selfish’ and ‘minority’ didn’t exist, a world where everyone lived forever. Imagine a perfect world, a quixotical utopia. Given the choice, would you partake in it?

If life were eternal, would it have a point? Our existence would be dull and void. It seems that while we strive to solve problems, we can’t deal with solving them all. We are analytical machines fueled by problem solving; our existence driven merely by the search, the answers insignificant.

A problem for many, death is life’s next big adventure; in fact it’s the only thing certain in life save heartache and taxes. Since the days of our youth we spend each birthday becoming aware of and counting down to our death, yet we spend all of our resources, if you will, trying to cheat it. We avoid death, prolong it, and in most cases fear it, yet could we live without it? Death begets time’s omnipresent importance. Without death, life is meaningless.

Could we humans psychologically deal with such a world? This writer says no. Life without death is tragedy. It’s like playing poker and getting a royal flush every hand, not only that, but knowing that you’re going to get it before the cards are even dealt. Would you keep playing the game? Or better yet, what would motivate others to keep anteing up? As for me, I’m unsure. I just wanted to use the word quixotical.

January 1st, 2003