Survivor Types. Grace Fitzgerald. The instinct to survive is built into human genes. This is an innate quality in every

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1 Survivor Types Grace Fitzgerald The instinct to survive is built into human genes. This is an innate quality in every living thing, but reason sets humans apart. Humans have the ability to reason and control their minds to survive. Both Marcus Aurelius and Richard Pine believe that controlling one s mind is essential to survival. They believe that a person s thoughts are the root of their decision-making, although, their belief systems differ on the actual decisions a person should make to enhance their survival. Richard Pine believes that one should make decisions that enhance their power, money, and physical state of their body. Marcus Aurelius believes that one should make decisions that benefit society and their own happiness. Marcus Aurelius and Richard Pine differ in how they define meaningful survival, but they both are moving towards the same goal. Marcus Aurelius is not so concerned with how long a person lives, but how they live. He believes in keeping an open mind, so that a person can learn about the world around them. Every person may be striving towards survival, but each person has different knowledge and opinions. He states, Change your course if one be present to put you right and make you abandon a certain opinion. (Aurelius, 28) The best way a person can learn is through others. Learning is one aspect of life that Marcus Aurelius believes makes life more meaningful. Other people and their opinions have value and can contribute to one s knowledge. Pine is more concerned with his own opinions and knowledge. He believes that, because of his high place in society as a surgeon, that he has superior opinions to others. He views others, particularly his patients, as unintelligent and of less worth than himself. For example, he would give operations and drugs to patients

2 whether they were necessary or not. (King, 362) He believes that his patients are not smart enough to be able to discern what is necessary and what is not, so he takes advantage of them. He does not use their cases to further his medical education, but instead gives them unnecessary procedures to increase his profits. He is more concerned with the money to further the length of his own life than the value of learning from others. According to Marcus Aurelius, happiness was the main goal to make a person s life meaningful. As long as a person is happy with how they are living their life, then their life will have meaning. He values independence from the whole. (Aurelius, 28) Each person has different opinions and thoughts, and as long as a person acts upon these different opinions and thoughts, then they will be happy. He thinks that it is important to keep an open mind to the thoughts of others, but he also considers it important for people to stick to their own opinions and values. He states in Meditation 11 Do not think the thoughts of an insolent man or those he wishes you to think, but see things as they truly are. (Aurelius, 28) Others opinions should be considered, but it is important for a person to do what makes them happy. Aurelius also argues that fame and money are not important and should not distract a person from their happiness. Material things do not add value to a person s life. Superficial things will mean nothing to a person after death, which will come inevitably. Poor men can look at the world happy and with understanding, which is all that matters. (Aurelius, 31) These material things distract from the path a person will take to find their true happiness. Pine holds a different opinion on what makes life meaningful. He believes that money, power, and fame are what make life meaningful. He thinks that happiness will

3 eventually come with a high amount of money, power, and fame. In high school, he was on the football team. In most high school stereotypes, he would be at the top of the social hierarchy. He does not like playing football, but he feels that this gave him value and meaning. (King,) He goes on to become a surgeon, a high-paying, well-respected person in the community. He preserves his hands and fingers at all costs so that he could become a surgeon and maintain his societal power. (King, 362) Being a surgeon comes not only with power but with a high salary as well. He struggles financially until he becomes a surgeon, and he sells drugs to get through school. He begins selling prescription blanks, and he then moves onto harder drugs to make a larger profit. He eventually becomes a surgeon, but he continues to sell drugs purely for the money. (King, 362) This money is what gave his life value. He no longer needs the money, but he does not want to give it up. He states, I didn t really need that stuff anymore, but it was a habit. Hard to give up that extra sugar. (King, 365) The money and fame that comes with being a surgeon gives Pine s life value. He considers his life successful based off of his superficial accomplishments. Marcus Aurelius believes that for successful survival, one must utilize the mind, the body, and the soul. He is a stoic, so he believes that one has to create meaning in life. Life is short, and every moment is valuable. He states in Meditation 17, Live not as if you had ten thousand years before you. (Aurelius, 28) The length of a person s life should not be the focus of survival. The focus of survival should be how a person lives their life. This includes ideas such as forgiveness and understanding. Everyone will die one day, so it is not practical to fear death. (Aurelius, 33)

4 Pine believes purely in survival of the body. He would sacrifice the mind and the soul to ensure the survival of the body. While coming back from a voyage, Pine is caught in a life or death situation to which his survival skills were put to the test. The boat on which he is traveling begins to sink, and he has to make decisions quickly to ensure his survival. He does not think about helping others get off of the boat. He takes a lifeboat to himself, despite the fact that the lifeboat is capable of holding many others. (King, 369) He gives up the survival of his soul to ensure the survival of his mind and body. He goes to an island where he becomes stranded, and he has to use his survival skills to determine how to feed himself. There is no food around him, so he is forced to sacrifice his body parts to his hunger. He takes heroin so that he is able to operate on himself, sacrificing his mind so that he can further the survival of his body. (King, 377) He is left without half of his body, his mind, or his soul. He dies, unable to keep his mind sane long enough to keep his hunger at bay. (King, 378) The longer one lives, the more meaningful and successful their survival becomes. The root of a person s decision-making is inherent. The actual decisions that every person makes differs from person to person. Richard Pine believes that decisions are made in an attempt to conform to society and live a long life. A person s successful survival is how a person controls their mind to attain the power, fame, and money given to them by society. This power, money, and fame will help one live a long and meaningful life. Marcus Aurelius believes that a person should make decisions that enhance their own happiness and independence. For a person to live a meaningful life, then they must focus on the quality of their life and enhances their experiences instead of

5 the length of one s life. Survival is an instinct present in all animals, but a human s sense of reason allows them to live a meaningful life.

6 WORKS CITED Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius. The Meditations. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc, Indianapolis, King, Stephen. Skeleton Crew. G.P. Putnam s Sons, New York, 1985.