Know Thyselfish

"Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side."

That is not reason, it's randomness. Although the chicken appears to have a "reason" for his actions, his motivations, as far as we can tell, are random. A random desire to get to the other side is not reasonable. Thereby, the chicken can be shown not to be a creature of reason.

Human beings, contrarily, are creatures of reason. We do not act randomly; rather, we act as a result of motivation. And, unlike the chicken's random motivation, our motivations, being reasonable, follow a set of predictable rules, traced back to a fundamental principle: selfishness. Human beings are, by default, selfish. And it's a good thing, too.

Sandcastles

Our civilization is going to fall. There is no doubt about it; like the Babylonians and Persians before us, the Romans and Greeks, or the Mayans and Aztecs, our nation will collapse.

Only, we don't really believe it. Some of us deny it, others nod in agreement, but few really understand that truth. We are so close to our reality, so involved in the present time that it is next to impossible to legitimately remove ourselves and step back far enough to acknowledge the inevitable. Nothing lives forever, and, although we may be happy and prosperous for the time being, eventually our end must come, even if the end is many thousands of years away.