On a train bound for nowhere

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I have been ruminating, Anna.

If there is no outside imperative - like God or some other supernatural force (as seems highly likely) then it's hard to see how you can get people to behave in a decent, civilised manner and to 'play the game' - unless they can be shown that behaving decently and playing the game is to their advantage. How do you persuade them? This, of course, has been one of the roles religion has played throughout history. Not the only role, but one of them.

Now it's okay for the likes of Brian Cox, Richard Dawkins and others (perhaps even me and you, Anna?) who have been dealt a decent hand in the game (genes, environment etc). Civilisation suits us. But what if you were born on a sink estate, or in a Calcutta street, with nothing much going for you in the the way of genes - or opportunity. Where is your incentive to play the game if you have been dealt such poor cards?

Nature is not about co-operation; it's about competition. Evolution is  the struggle for survival. Species don't co-operate with species - they compete for territory and food; they kill one another. So will we ever reach a point when 'the lion will (truly) lie down with the lamb?'

I don't know. But I am optimistic about humans; I believe our salvation lies in mankind - not the supernatural. And, despite all the horror perpetrated by man throughout history - and still going on today - there has been (and still is) lots of good stuff. We are moving forward, slowly perhaps, but at least moving forward. We are evolving: becoming more civilised, in the proper sense of the word.

I have just finished a book called 'The Psychopath Test' and one of the arguments put forward in the book is that many of our leaders: CEOs, politicians and so on, are psychopaths - not all but a lot of them. This, if true, is quite depressing, in fact it's dangerous, but even so we might just make it! In time, Reason may triumph over aggressive nationalism, religious fundamentalism, corporate greed, political corruption and individual selfishness - often born out of fear. Maybe we will evolve to a point where war, suffering, poverty, disease are just a chapter in the history books - or the history Kindles. I don't know. But we are all we have got; we are our only chance.

Meanwhile, on a seat across the aisle from me, a young man closes his eyes and rests his head on his girlfriend's shoulder. She puts her arm around him and draws him to her so that his head nestles in her neck. She gently pats his back, like a mother soothing a child.
I find this heart warming.

In the seat in front of them a woman applies her make-up: deft strokes of a mascara brush, all the while chatting to her friend seated beside her.

It's going to be all right!

A man's voice over the speakers advises us that we are approaching our final destination, and that we should make sure we collect our belongings and mind the gap as we leave the train. He thanks us for travelling with Northern Rail.

I check: bag, scarf, gloves, mobile phone... yes I think that's all my belongings. As for this being my 'final destination'... well on this trip, anyway. They say that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive. I'll go with that.
Let's enjoy the journey... and hope that our final destination is a long way off yet.

By the way, Anna, Ranulph Fiennes, at the age of 68,  is setting out to walk to the South Pole. Good for him. I hope he remembers to take a warm vest - and a stout pair of boots.

No further word from Hector - yet.

Yours as ever

George