The ''D''eciding Factors

Mankind flourished with the two D's working together- Development and Division have been allies since man started his life from scratch.

Sign language, I believe, must have been the oldest universal language used to communicate in the primitive times. It is the development of different languages that ushered in the first degree of division- communities. People who spoke the same language, shared their own set of beliefs, preferences, needs, risks; which cumulatively metamorphosized into a community. Countless languages, countless communities.

Man was already struggling for survival, clueless about, but still exploring, the boons and the banes of nature. And then, he found a simpler way. The communities systematically developed and alloted different job functions (hunting, gathering firewood; later- education, farming, business etc.) to different groups. Survival became easy. Job functions developed into occupations and occupations into industries. And based on occupations, the caste system raised its ugly head- lethal division for the sake of further development!

People yearned and mutually toiled for years, to know the shape, the size, the topography of the earth! And when their knowledge and abilities developed to the level of accomplishing the seemingly impossible task, it gave birth to different continents, nations, states, cities. The division, of course, proved to be convenient for many purposes- ease of administration, tracking etc.

The division led to the ultimate endless quest- the quest for being the superpower...which is measured in terms of (again) development..the underdeveloped, the developing and the developed nations.

Development has given rise to many convenient and harmless divisions too! But this chain reaction of the D's has been too fast and furious for man to grasp, and decide what kind of division was essential, mutual and beneficial. The alter-egos will keep on acting as the driving forces for the progress of humanity; sometimes symbiotically, sometimes viciously.

Regards,
Rati