Tuesdays with Morrie

A small list of issues and questions that we all grapple with from happiness to aging to having children to death. Do you take care of others or take care of your inner child? return to traditional values or reject tradition as useless? seek success or seek simplicity? just say no or just do it?

There are few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: if you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your value must be alike. And the biggest one of those values, your belief in the importance of your marriage. I think marriage is a very important thing to do. And you're missing a hell lot if you don't try it. Love each other or perish.

The quote “Fate succumbs many a species: one alone jeopardises itself” is from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. It’s a humorous but surprisingly philosophical observation about humanity’s unique talent for self-destruction. Breaking it down “Fate succumbs many a species” Many species are eventually defeated by forces beyond their control—natural disasters, climate changes, predators, disease, extinction, etc. Their fate is largely imposed upon them. “one alone jeopardises itself” But one species—humans—has the peculiar ability to threaten its own existence through its own choices. In simpler words: Nature may destroy many species, but humans are unusually good at destroying themselves. The joke is that humans are intelligent enough to understand danger, yet often use that intelligence to create even bigger dangers—war, environmental destruction, weapons, political conflict, greed, and so on. The deeper irony Adams is also poking fun at human self-importance. We tend to think intelligence makes humans superior to other species. But perhaps our intelligence is also our weakness: we can foresee catastrophic consequences and still choose actions that bring them about. So the quote essentially asks: What if the greatest threat to humanity isn't fate, nature, or some external enemy—but humanity itself? It's a very Adams-esque combination of dark humor + existential philosophy.