Man Is A Social Animal


32. Sartre said, “Hell is other people,” while Streisand sang, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” With whom do you agree? (Amherst)

I strongly disagree with Sartre. I agree more with Streisand’s view that “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”  I don’t need people as such, but I am much happier in the company of other people. In a sense then, I guess I indirectly need people to be happy. I’m always finding new people to meet. I always want to know who someone is. Each person is different, and each person has some really different, fascinating characteristics. I’ve learned to like people for what they do have instead of disliking them for what they don’t have.
If “Hell is other people” (Sartre) then put me on the list because that’s where I want to go. Sometimes you can have the best of conversations with what seems like the worst of the people. For example, my English teacher is the best as well as the worst person to have a conversation with. He somehow always seems to disagree with my point of view and presents his own argument in the best possible way. He convinces me even though I try being as stubborn as possible to prove him wrong.
If I had to live in a world without other people, I would probably end up as a depressed soul. If I didn’t see so many people a day, I would have no reason to smile. (Yes, you can infer from the previous statement that I smile at almost everyone I walk by whether or not I know him or her).
I’m not saying I like being in crowded rooms all the time. I do like my own space and I like time to myself, but I couldn’t survive for too long without other people. The world would be a boring place if it were just me all alone. No stories from different backgrounds, no dramatic fights between two people, no love, no hate. I’m much happier with the world we have.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Running Away

226. When you had the desire to run. Last summer I had four and a half months off. Four and a half months away from school. Four and a half months of zero responsibilities. Four and a half months of freedom, which I discovered were actually going to be four and a half months of utter boredom. I had so much planned, so much in mind, for those months. I was ready to have the best time I ever would. Alas, I was to be disappointed. I was to stay with my father for the entire duration of my break. His house was in the city where all my friends were, but barely. He lived on the outskirts where there was no public transport. I couldn’t ask friends to pick me up because I was too far off. I couldn’t walk because any place I wanted to go was too far off. I was still willing to brave it out but my father refused on account of the neighborhood being too dangerous for a girl to walk alone. I had to give him that as I’d already had a close encounter, even with my brother around. To
Read more

A New Leaf, A New Life

216. A surprising turn of events. We desperately needed a change in our lives. My brother needed to get into a college of his choice, I needed a new school, and my mother needed a new job to fund both our educations (also because she was miserable in her present job). Woodstock School was the best thing that could possibly have happened to my family at this point. My mom got her job, I got my school, and because I was a staff child and didn’t need to pay school fees, my mother could now afford to send my brother to the college of his choice with the best Mass Communication course in the National Capital Region, if not India. Saying I was excited would be the understatement of the century. I was thrilled to be starting off at a new school. There were, of course, the worries about making friends, fitting in, and adjusting to the new system. None of it could conquer my feelings of sheer excitement at getting a chance to start over. God had given me a second chance. By taking up a job s
Read more