Mankind Constitutes One Great Brotherhood

I would often ask my mother, “Mom, whom do you prefer, my brother or me?” As a mother, she should be neutral about the fact of having favorites. But as a person, she would tend to feel more identified or bonded toward either my brother or me. When I think about it, I find it difficult to arrive to a conclusion. If you don’t know, I am the big brother, leaving Antonio (my brother) as the small kid. Being brothers automatically connotes fight or disagreement. For example, I often hear the quotation, “juego de manos, juego de villanos”. But isn’t it better, “juego de manos, juego de hermanos”? We fight for every simple aspect presented in a daily basis. At a first glance, I could say I have the advantage since I’m older, and hence wiser, bigger, and off course, stronger. Unfortunately, I dwell with one notable disadvantage: “If I am competing with my brother for a morsel of food, and if he is much younger than me so that he could benefit from the food more than I could, it might pay my genes to let him have it” (128). As the big brother I have the pressure of being the example, the role model, and hence tend to behave altruistically towards such situations of competition.

Maybe I’m not as altruistic as my parents. Indeed, last week they scolded me for being selfish, egotistical, and only worrying about myself. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not true, but you know, they are my parents. Therefore, I accepted the scold and as I write this blog, I am trying to find a way to improve that aspect of selfishness I am embracing. I am constantly competing with my brother and parents. But this competition is not measured by strength, wisdom, or experience. It is measured with genes. I inherit my parents’ genetic information, and probably my brother’s genes are very much alike as mines. By having this share of genes, I have the tendency to act the way my parents want me to act. Referring to the example of my scold, I wasn’t acting the way they wanted me to act, but now I am striving to do so. When my little brother misbehaves there’s also impact in this sphere of influence. Parents always win. And without parents, the little brothers always win. I am in the middle. I am damned to continue losing forever. If I could have the opportunity to win anytime, I wouldn’t have to wait until I am eighteen to leave the house.