I find myself reflecting on choices, values and morality these days. Which may be particularly timely, as we appear to be about to say a final goodbye to a man that seems to have provided us with a remarkable example of the best of humankind.
In contrast to Prisoner 46664, the common goal of the people I see around me currently is to maximize pleasure while minimizing effort. And these are people who are ostensibly motivated by altruism and concern for others, in that these people are in Tanzania under the auspices of volunteer organizations. If I sound irritated, it is because I am--which makes me remember what Thomas Macaulay said about puritans: "The puritan hated bear baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators."
So here's a question for you. Immanuel Kant wrote that "We are not rich by what we possess, but by what we can do without." How the hell did he avoid being locked up in the nut house? And, since I agree with this lunatic on this subject, why am I not on a court-ordered psychotropic drug regimen? Or was a secret treatment employed whereby I was given a post-hypnotic suggestion that I wanted to try every beer in Tanzania? If the last option is the truth, then I would like to offer my thanks to the health care professional responsible for this innovative and effective treatment.
Here's another question for you. Is stupidity contagious, or does one person's unselfconscious stupidity simply lift the lid off of the stupidity that people normally have sufficient self-awareness to keep covered? Of course, I wouldn't ask the question if I hadn't already made up my mind as to the correct answer. In this case, the answer is the second part of the question. (Have you noticed that I am not the only one who uses questions to attempt to influence the response and not to acquire information? I, at least, have the excuse that, in knowledgeable circles, asking questions that influence the response is known as "creative pedagogy.")
Here's yet a third question. Suppose you were a volunteer from Australia volunteering in Tanzania and that you were taking a tourist outing to visit a "Masai Village." (It is an actual Masai settlement, but the residents dress up, dance, etc. as a show for the tourists.) Now tell me, would you, at the end of your 3 hour visit to the settlement, when the rest of your group has been loaded onto the bus and the Masai are wanting to head home, pull out a prepared speech and, reading from this script, declare that you have been touched by these people, that you love them all, that they will always be in your heart, and that if they are ever in Australia, they have a place to stay? If you are conflicted about your answer to this question, then either (1) I need to sharpen my communication skills; (2) you need to rethink your entire philosophy of life; or (3) you are an actual volunteer living here in the same house as I am.
In other words, "Please, please, please, intensify that post-hypnotic suggestion about beers." Or come visit me and reassure me that all the good, sensible, ethical, honorable friends that I have been lucky enough to have made are not figments of malaria-medicine-induced hallucinations but are in fact real people. Unless, of course, my three Finnish friends in the following photograph are malaria-medicine-induced hallucinations (which seems far more likely than that they are actual friends). If the latter is true, no need to visit--just convince my doctor to double my malaria medicine dosage.
And lest you suggest that I'm a disgusting old pervert, let me point out that, when their ages are added together, these three girls are nine years older than I am. At this point, I should also note another portion of Immanuel Kant's philosophy that I embrace--at least as these three friends are concerned--"Always treat people as ends in themselves, never as means to an end." Right on, Manny!
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