Survival of the fittest

Carlos A. Barahona
Dr. Beardsley
English 122
23 June 2010
With Great Power…Here Comes Trouble
It was Herbert Spencer who coined the phrase “the survival of the fittest”, in his Principles ofBiology - after reading Darwin's On the Origin of Species - in which he compares the idea between his own economic theories and Darwin's biological ones, or the preservation of the strongest races inthe fight for life. I also believe in the fact that all of human kind has been presented with opportunities to progress and get to where we want to be. Now what we do with this is up to each one of us.And is no one else’s job or responsibility to make it better for me because they made better choices with their lives.
In the short story by Toni Cade Bambara The Lesson – one can observe the verytypical assumption that life is not fair because I’m poor and you are rich “that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means at equal crack at the dough, don’tit?” (Bambara 507). Why are we always trying to find someone to blame for our misfortunes. This story is read from the perspective of some inner city children that see money as the only happiness andthat do not see the fairness of a world that has more to offer to those that have the “dough”. But what would happen if we look at this story from another perspective? Let’s talk about that personthat sacrificed his or her time or perhaps many other things to obtain that education or those hours of practice to become better at what they do? So they could get that juicy contract or high payingjob. Is it fair for them to give to the ones that did not feel like finishing school or anything to help them because they thought that “gang banging” or “chilling in the corner with your peeps” wasgoing to get them somewhere in the future? I think not. Nobody should wait like this with this feeling of entitlement or “you owe me”. This is something that has plagued our culture for a while now, a...