Mutually Assured Survival
When the body is dead, it's cold.
We usually talk about mutually assured destruction. We fear it. We know it’s there. We live in the hope that the guy with access to the button restrains himself. Maybe we could talk about mutually assured survival, instead.
We live to replicate DNA. That’s it. Everything else is a bonus.
Every sunrise, every sunset, every visit to the beach, every ride in a car, bus or train, that’s all a bonus. TVs, stage plays, hotel stays, Paris, New York and Belfast, they’re all bonuses. Jewelry, high fashion, fine dining, high society events and fast cars, they’re all a bonus. And yet, none of them assure our mutual survival.
Love assures our mutual survival. Hate does not. Compassion assures our mutual survival. Indifference does not. Food assures our mutual survival. Oil does not. Tools assure our mutual survival. Weapons do not. Cooperation, the foundation skill of all of humanity assures our mutual survival. Coercion does not.
There was this song written by Paul McCartney long ago, Live and Let Die. He wrote it for a James Bond film back in the 70s. I remember the words…
You used to say live and let live
You know you did
You know you did
You know you did
