A word from the Urban Shaman

****** Warning some of the ideas here may be contraversial. Do what you want with this warning. I'm not your keeper. *******

Every so often I feel the need to remind people about the reality of life. Bear with me while I set this up.

As humans we are social creatures needing contact with one another. Yes for some it seems like they don't need that contact but that's an illusion. People divorce themselves from other people because they can't reconcile what they need to do with the demands of their relationships. Now to continue. As a consequence we have devised societies and created beliefs and concepts in hopes of making it easier to coexist. That doesn't mean that these things are right or can be easily reconciled with reality.

Violence/Killing: We are not suppose to approve of violence yet we do. Why? Because it works in a lot of situations. I'm not big on using violent means. In fact except for once or twice in my childhood I've never had to use it to accomplish anything but I know the value of putting down a rabid dog to keep everyone else safe. Well actually more obvious we all eat living things so our very survival is based on some pretty horrendous violence directed at one living thing or another. Now we hide that violence from the general public but it happens none the less.

Marriage: There's been a lot of complaining about gay marriage saying it desecrates marriage but when you think about it marriage exists because we can't trust two people to make sure they spend their resources towards their common good and the good of their children. Or that society at large can't be trusted to let two people who love each other to stay together and share resources that's why we have legislation that forces companies to cover employees spouses and children. Of course marriage was never about love, I mean dowries... hello!

Monogamy: Is but one mating strategy for our species. I'm sorry but I have to say just how blind are some of us to miss the obvious. Until the advent of modern medicine and some cultures quasi-genocidal attempts at reducing the numbers of female children, women have always outnumbered men. We default to female as a species if something goes wrong in the birthing process. Monogamy is only one way to ensure you pass your genes on to the next generation. Actually it's the equivalent of putting all your eggs in one basket and watching that basket like a hawk. Polygamy spreads the genes around this way if one partner isn't viable then possibly the others may be. Now I will say this. We have lower birth rates then other species so we can spend more time on rearing our children in monogomis relationships but that still doesn't make it our only option. Our gender distribution doesn't permit it to be an option for everyone.

Love: Okay here we go. Most people aren't capable of the kind of love we like to rave about. On the other hand we are capable of killing ourselves for the benefit of others. However don't hold your breadth. If you're a little kid maybe you can expect it but adults... good luck getting someone to sacrifice themselves for you. I know you're gonna say, "What of our troops, our fire men, our police men?" True enough but they all have internal agencies to investigate those who have strayed from their noble cause and they have a fighting chance. They're equipped and trained to deal with the dilema they've chosen to confront. But I digress I was talking about love. Love is an emotion to motivate you do to something for someone other than yourself. A consequence of being a social creature. I personaly believe in it and suffer from a large dose of it for my fellow living beings. One because I like how it feels and two because of the strength I derive from it. Although the point I had intended to convey was that the need to survive tends to trump love. Another consequence of being a social creature is to realize we all take part in the maintenance of the society. And unfortunately we are sometimes far to willing to sacrifice those we love for the whole.

Okay so I didn't say everything I wanted to say. I just don't have the patience or attention span but I hope I have at least said enough to spark a debate.