06 November 2009

'Give a man a fish...

I recently heard the old saying "give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day; teach him to fish, and he will eat every day".
But here's a good twist: "give a man a fish and he will eat; teach a man to fish and he will destroy the fish stocks, leading to extinction of fish and the collapse of the ecology." Maybe its just better to give a man a fish.

We live with these myths that mankind lives 'in nature' rather than makes nature. I think man, the species, has been around long enough to have not only shaped himself in the image of his own culture, but also shaped the world through his cultural choices and, amongst other qualities like love and peace, greed and bloodshed. Still doesn't make me a vegetarian, though.