Pigeons walk and Sparrows hop.
“You are not special. Even if you are, should it make a difference? ”- Manoj Pun Tilija.
I was catching my breath on a bench at the park. I hear the chipping of a bird on my left. I looked towards it and saw a sparrow just chipping. I have no idea what it was thinking. Although, I’d put my money on food and sex.
Another sparrow joined it. Now there were two sparrows chipping at each other. I wonder what they were communicating. This second sparrow was exactly the same as the first one. Although the hue was a bit light. But they hopped, they flew, pecked, and chipped.
They were special and not so special at the same time. Special in a sense no two birds will ever be in that exact position, chipping the exact chip. An individual being at play. But they are not so special, in a sense, they are all just a sparrow. You know how they live, what they like to eat, where they like to live, and even how much they weigh.
So what does it have to do with us?
The narrative is that being special or feeling special is not that special. We are all a bunch of hairless monkeys playing with computers.
Do you think you are the only person to think a certain way, earn a certain way, talk a certain way, walk, eat, dress and even do bedroom gymnastics a certain way?
No. All of our preferences and responses are governed by our desires. And desires are manufactured and marketed by behavioral science.
Do you think margarine is better than butter just because a scientific research paper wrote it? Go to any food science convention and you will find research papers claim to be good for both sides. It’s about the price that makes the difference.
Now if all our desires are manufactured and marketed, what is left for us?
Not all of our desire.
You want food, security, leisure, and sex. This is not a manufactured desire, it is ingrained in our survival DNA.
The bigger question is what are you gonna do about it?
