Strongest & Fittest

It has always been the case in the animal kingdom that the strongest and the fittest will become the ruler. I suppose that is the intention of nature. In a pack of wolves, for example, the strongest and fittest male will be the ruler; and he will also earn the automatic mating right for all the famales of that pack. In such a way, the strongest and fittest genes will be passed down to the next generation. And the cycle will repeat itself in all of the subsequent generations. The "weaker" genes have only a remote chance of passing down to the next generation.

Eons ago, humans used to behave in much the same way as animals too. The strongest and the fittest usually became the ruler. And—yes, he usually had many spouses too. Or if not spouses, at least many, many concubines. Whoever tried to go against his wishes would be executed. Everyone must obey!

Over the ages, as we became more and more civilised, we began to change our ways—we've come up with elections to choose our leaders. Today, most leaders of the world are not the strongest and fittest of their people, though hopefully they are the cleverest of their respective communities. If these people fail to deliver the expected performance to their people, then they can be voted out of office and other people will become the leaders.

Unfortunately, not all of us are civilised people—some of us are still behaving like animals. We fight and kill to become the leaders of our people. No one should get in our ways; otherwise he or she will be executed. And then in such a community, there are always a few of these people who would fight to death to become leaders. In the good old days, we used spears and swords; then we used guns and cannons; and now we're using automatic weapons, bombs and other hi-tech weaponry.

As these strong soldiers in big boots fight with each other, with bombs exploding all over the land, thus destroying properties and killing lives, it's always the women, children and elderly who will suffer the most. The masterminds of the fightings will come up with winning formulae on how to overcome the opposing sides. The winning party will become the ruler; the losing party will start again to fight for the throne. The cycle repeats itself again and again and again...

There are many reasons for the fightings, including for freedom, for the pride of the country and even for religion. While the rest of the world watch in horror, the fightings continue. The people of these war-torn countries have never known the meaning of peace and progress in their lives. They are doomed for hell on earth.

And so, Iraq has finally found the freedom they've been hoping for. The American government has embarked on gradually withdrawing its forces. We, the rest of the world, are watching with fingers crossed. Who knows maybe the Iraqis have learned something. Let's now wait and see if the people of Iraq are behaving like civilised people or like animals.