SMART TO A POINT

It was smart for early people to realize that there were distinct advantages to living in proximity to others... including greater protection against predators (both animal and human), varied food supplies, social interactions, etc. The development of small societal units, hamlets, was understandable. Those who lived in and about the hamlet measurably improved the quality of their lives.

It was also understandable that some who saw the success of the hamlets would imagine even greater success by expansion of the hamlet into a larger and more populous village...then, a larger and more populous town...then, a larger and more populous city...and then into the larger and more populous megalopolises we see today. It was understandable...but it was dead wrong.

For with the blinding worship of bigness came blindness... blindness to the nature of our species, blindness to the needs of that nature, and blindness to the severe penalties which that nature exacts when it is violated.

Our human nature gives each of us the capacity to choose, the power to carve out our own unique path in life. To those who exercise that power and staunchly and steadily walk that path, no matter the winds that blow, our nature offers a rewarding sense of purpose and meaning to life, and pride, and crowns our souls with unparalleled happiness.

As societal units enlarged, more and more people were attracted to the multitude of benefits they offered. The number of individual paths soared into the thousands, and then millions, crisscrossing and smashing into each other, causing bottlenecks, frustration, and chaos.

The solution? Standardization. One way traffic. Social proprieties, cultural norms, political correctness. Mainstream thinking. Standardized working hours, attire, home designs. Concrete monsters rising to the sky. Conform, comply, defer, submit, submerge, obey.

The price? Loss of individuality and spontaneity, suppression of personal dreams, motonous repetition and sameness, lethargy, tedium, depression. Precious time lost on waiting lines...on the road, at shops, at hospitals, for jobs. Some turned to violence, some chose eternal escape. Those who couldn't or wouldn't pay the price? Isolation, banishment.

We humans were smart to congregate the way we did.

Or were we?