Most people have heard of the concept of “survival of the fittest” — that is, evolution goes on because those individuals or species which survive fit the environment they live in better than others. Many read into this a sense of individualistic competition, and bring this individualistic competition into human society, saying that it is a law of nature which must be acknowledged. The problem is, this isn’t exactly what has been found in the study of evolution. Instead, we see that groups which cooperate together and work together to deal with problems before give greater chance of survival to individuals within the group than those individuals who try to withstand environmental pressures alone. Even though the individual must give up on some of its own desires and dictates, it receives greater compensation from the resources of the group than it can get on its own. This is true not only for other animals, but for us, too. We are persons; we are not made for individual self-sufficiency. We need society just as much as society needs us. Without such interaction, we will suffer. And just as we all have different personal qualities, we must recognize what we each have to offer to each other might be different, and some might feel like they have to give up more than others; but that is the point of their gifts — they were given to them so they can use them, and share them, for the benefit of all.
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