by Lauren Daniels

Created on: October 21, 2008

I will confess, it annoys me when I feel I am not bettering myself.

Why do humans have an inbuilt drive to achieve more as fast as they can? Well, it's a good thing we do really, otherwise we would still be stumbling around caves stabbing wildebeest and grunting. A world away from today's smart modern man and high-powered women. I would suggest that this inbuilt drive is placed there not only for the benefit of the greater community, but for the benefit of the human as well. How great do you feel when you learn a new skill? When you teach someone else a new skill? When you lose/gain weight? Wehn you finally pay off all your debts and can buy luxury things? All these things are 'bettering' yourself, and they do make you feel good. So it's to benefit the singular as well as the plural.

How about when we look at bettering the plural? Alexander Bell who invented the telephone; he probably felt pret-ty pleased with himself, but how pleased are you that you can talk to someone anywhere in the world whenever you want? It's fantastic! (However, not very fantastic if the ONLY person you want to call is that gorgeous woman on the bus you see every morning, but you don't have her number. Damn.) Alexander Fleming who invented penicillin; he probably didn't realise quite how much that was going to benefit everyone, but the millions of people worldwide who use it do. So when we better ourselves, it can also help the community. Two good reasons to start bettering.

But why would evolution realise this drive was needed anyway? It wasn't exactly like cavemen had anywhere to put a telephone point. And I can't imagine them queuing up in the GP's office with Mabel from next door. Well, start off with a well-known incident of humans bettering themselves; the invention of the wheel. Maybe this was the event that sparked off the love of improvement? (And I know it is a love, because my primary and secondary school never shut up about it.) Maybe this caveman felt the warm glow of recognition from his peers. And maybe there we have found the heart of this need for constant bettering. Approval.

So maybe it is not an inbuilt desire, more a conscious need. I mean, most people 'better themselves' by losing weight (excluding those who do it because they have a health problem) and do it because they feel the need for approval by society. So possibly it is a mixture of the two; the want to better oneself and the need to be approved of for it.

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