“THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST HAS ALWAYS BEEN CRUEL” in “LIFE IN THE TIMES OF CORONA: On A Mass Exile”

I’m beginning to feel icky – no, ickier – with the ugliness of this world lately. Social media is full of crazy people, but thankfully I can still see the good ones too. It’s a daily challenge to stay sane out there.

I don’t mind being a Darwinian once in a while. You know, believing in the ‘survival of the fittest and practice that and all. It’s good to be competitive at times. It gives you a strong motivation to move forward and improve yourself.

However, too much of it is no good. It stresses you out, giving you a heavy feeling of not achieving enough. You may forget to be grateful for what you’ve already got.

Worst of all, you can get cocky too. You may start thinking that you’re better than the others once you (believe that you) have the upper hand. You may start resenting others bitterly too when it’s the opposite; you feel that they gain the most of the advantages in the existing systems.

Like, seriously – grow up. Not everything in life has to be a competition. No need to beg for validation from other people.

These days, ‘survival of the fittest’ sounds crueler to me. I think it has always been. In reality, not everyone is stranded on the same spot. Some still have more privileges than others, no matter how you try to look at this. Let’s not lie by saying that we’re in this together.

Come on, there’s no need to get sensitive about this. It’s the truth, like it or not. Don’t worry, you don’t have to apologize for the privileges that you’ve already got right now. There are things that you can still do better these days, things that really matter.

Let’s help the less fortunate, even just a little. Help them in any way you can. I’m not being holier-than-thou about this, because the truth is – we never know.

Next time, it could be us.

R.