Ha! Ha! ... I just love Watterson's C&H ... sad he doesn't make 'em anymore ... so much philosophy in the guise of cartoons !
Reminds me of that quote I heard from my dad, (he attributed it to Robert McNamara) " ... the history of the world is largely that of war, punctured by periods of exhaustion which goes under the name of peace ..." - I would say that hits the nail on the head in succinctly describing the innate vices attributed to mortal men - a lifelong accretion of material objects most of which we do not need.
While I well understand the rationale behind the Darwinist survival of the fittest, I fail to understand how our "superior" intelligence have enabled out continued existence in this chimeric world. In my humble understanding, it is only humans who have the habit of taking more than they require from Nature, and it is this tendency that will be our downfall. All other species, take what they will honestly require. Ever heard of a tiger killing two deer, when it takes it a week to consume one ?
We humans have complicated our lives with the unnecessary accoutrement of civilization. We are continually working towards a less enriching life, and I talk of life as the sum total of the human species' ability to live happily ... but more on that later ... in another of my tirades ...
