it wrote : condign , now with the blue ink of the pen used up , i write interchangeably in black and red , for it is blood and darkness that makes a man philosophize : to question why in this not best of all possible worlds27 , but the worst of all plausible ones , hatred and joy ( reflexive instinct of defense of the former , a hallucinogenic of the latter ) is the fuel of all logic for this most intelligent species that continues to exploit myriad other species and all mineral resources in a frenetic economy of ease exclusively for one out of millions of species while cognizant of the consequences of billowing the byproduct of societal ease in greenhouse gasses ; why in modern society there is still this residual thrill of the hunt , the yearning to procure and succeed , the competitive strife , as success can only be understood in the context of others , especially if , in varying degrees , procuring as deciduous others fail and drift without possession , desiccated leaves skidding on the sidewalks of time -- the competitive striving in those so cognizant of mortality making them even more avaricious to acquire instead of relinquishing that which they have in the realization that temporary beings can not own anything ) ; why a given man retains memories of childhood without being able to return to it again for a visit , not that he would want to if his childhood was horrific , especially as in parenthood one merely repeats the scratched records of parental mandates , bullishness , and peevishness played by ones own parents ; why , as witnessed at various times from the observation deck of the bayoke tower , the entire city of bangkok in all directions is so replete in skyscrapersbut then , it is also replete in the three dollar a day workers that construct , maintain , and service the businesses of these edifices like slaves ( slaves , at least in the past , being beaten for failing to be more assiduous in performing the requisite tasks for the masters profits and never fired and left to starve on the streets ) ; and , beneath the bayoke a woman with her trinkets on a towel , and her son donned in school clothes , sitting in his wheelchair , with their hours spent in waiting for that which will not come as they are dark skinned and compunctious blights on modern society , and that look of dread on her countenance as another homeless woman , soliloquizing and clearly out of her mind , sat down on her towel ( i looked away , and ineluctably , irrevocably , i am forever diminished as a consequence , and if shrapnel from a grenade wounds or kills any one of them in future days , i too will be culpable as i am culpable for turning away from a deformed shirtless man crawling on the sidewalk a week ago , the sun beating onto him , who gave me that expressive look of anguish.. chapter 6 considering the sanctity of life in impermanence and the state of virtual reality purportedly , pericles made the claim that the maximum age in ancient times was around seventy28which means that if , like in all the circumstances needed for his fertilization , a viable fetus , gestation , and a favorable birth , one manages to overcome the odds through propitious events in ones favor and circumvents the negative , or at least is lucky enough not to stand in the wrong place at the wrong time as happened to aeschylus when a tortoise fell from an eagles talons and landed on his head , or at least so montaigne claims,29he could live an extra thirty years .