Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Wow it's been a week since my last blog entry. How boring for all you readers out there. Anyway, I've been quite busy studying for the upcoming CA, and it just so happens that I finished quite a large chunk today in the Med library, thus accounting for my leisurely rambling.
Let's get to the point, shall we?
First, maybe some comments on WM's entry on war in relation to friendship (you know, if you write war as War, it makes me think of a guy on a horse. Weird.). Considering my extremist stance towards the military, it's not very possible to talk about such hypothetical situations without inciting some of my anti-war sentiments (except maybe in fantasy stories). But still, for the sake of my dear WM's argument, I shall assume that, by some sardonic twist of fate, I have ended up in a battlefield somewhere and were faced with the dilemma of whether to dash back into a flurry of gunfire to save a comrade lying injured in the midst of all this mayhem. Ahem. Well perhaps I should say that it really depends on how I feel about the person, doesn't it. I mean, if it were my father or brother or son, I would run back for them, and the same too for friends that I love as dearly as I would my father of brother or son. (Of course, the same applies for mother or sister or wife or daughter, but it is hardly likely that such a situation should occur.)
This is such a complex subject, and my thoughts on it are more, if not as disjointed and illogical than WM's. An analysis of one's action is quite impossible, in view of the multitude of factors that may vary with different situations, which may lead to a different assessment of the situation and thus a different course of action. But in the end, when humans are struggling against such forces where every decision and action carries with it the weight of survival, all civilisation is reduced to barbary and preservation of one's life is undoubtedly at the top of one's priority list. Few will tell you they would risk their life unconditionally to save a comrade in danger and mean it, simply because it is not the way of human nature, especially not in the mayhem and carnage of a battlefield. Self-preservation, though selfish in its nature, is still an immutable force that directs even the most advanced of living organisms, for it is a relic of the eons-old evolutionary process. Indeed, for one to unconditionally put one's life in extreme danger for the sake of saving a complete stranger or even a friend makes one either worthy of sainthood or insane beyond reasonable doubt.
Though as I come to this point it interests me to wonder, why risk it for those you love when self-preservation is allegedly the guiding principle in such a perilous situation? It is hardly logical to analyse it in a scientific manner and say it is for the preservation of genetic information that is similar to one's own. That's rubbish. And so this is the place where the complex human psyche makes itself felt, breaking free of the restraints imposed by primal survival instincts. Indeed, emotion is irrational and can overrule our instincts, and perhaps that is what makes us different from animals. Interestingly, in a situation like this you would probably realise that your loved one would not want you to risk you life for his/her sake, and yet you would still do it. Even more interesting to note is that if it were you lying injured in the middle of the battlefield, your loved one might just as well risk his/her life to save you, and you would think it a foolhardy act. I am as yet unable to figure out how emotion can thus overwhelm a primal self-preservation instinct, but it is worthy of some thought.
To think that I thought things would turn out disastrously idiotic. I have intrigued myself most profoundly with those thoughts on psychology. My apologies to WM that I only commented on but a small part of his exposition, but I'm sure the parts on leadership will be much better placed in the able hands of H, for I am hardly a leader in any sense of the word. I do hope I'm making some kind of point with this entry, though.
Avaris / 11/11/2003 09:59:00 PM
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