as i watched the 11th episode of bbc's planet earth, Ocean Deep - last one, first - i am struck by how all living beings basically divide their time between actively feeding or resting/hunting. with each attack of a school of prey, there are always casualties. it seems to be the luck of the draw whether you live that day or not. my first thoughts of the predator-prey events in the episode were, "wow, glad we are not subjected to the nonstop hunting/feeding/digesting life. there is so much violence." then, following right after was the one-word retort: war.

i am reminded of the human need for war. it seems that because we are no longer hunter/gatherers, because we are not fighting for our lives, because we do not get attacked by nature as an every-possible-second occurence, we have found something to replace the drama, replace the fear. accompanying the living is the need for imbalance - even if it were only so that we can seek our own, renewed balance. have we really evolved very much from our basic needs and functions if we, as a whole, haven't figured out peace? how much longer till peace evolves? and do we really want to live in an utopian society? every sketch of utopia has a group of heroic dissenters who do not want to. is that only because so far, every sketch of utopia has been created by men who have not sought harmony yet? or is utopia just a place for smiling zombies?

the damning thing is that in this century, we have the option to live peacefully, peppered interestingly - so that we don't become bored zombies - with natural disasters, disease, hunger, poverty, death, and their accompanying adversities. why haven't we taken advantage of the possibilities?
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