THE song People made two singers famous – American Barbra Streisand and our own Nora Aunor. The song as recorded by Streisand broke records in 1964.
It was also the song that launched the singing career of Ms. Aunor on becoming champion of the then famous TV show Tawag ng Tanghalan in 1967.
“People who need people,” the song begins, “are the luckiest people in the world.”
The song is a subtle interpretation of the life and career of Broadway and film star Fanny Brice who had to “need” her gambler lover to preserve their difficult relationship.
We, too, need people to fit in various circumstances. If you are in business, you need to please hard-to-please customers to win their patronage.
If you are an employer, you need to please employees who likewise must be in good terms with you.
If you marry, you lose some freedoms in exchange for a happy family life.
In an article, American book author Robert Ringer wrote, “Even if you were to attempt to live a Thoreau-type life in the wilderness — a prospect that sounds rather boring — you still would find the need to talk to people from time to time. Food and medical care are two obvious reasons why.”
We learn early on in childhood that a teacher may give a student a wrong grade for a right answer just because she dislikes him; or parents may play favorites among their children.
And so we get disappointed over “unfair treatment” from relying too much on another person. The more we rely on someone, the more we see his imperfection without realizing that they must have seen our imperfection, too.
On the brighter side, it compels us to be non-judgmental of other people.
We have learned from Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” that people are programmed at birth to be selfish. This means that whatever good we do to others is commensurate with their usefulness to us. Imagine what would happen if we feed others to the point of starving ourselves. In other words, there is no absolute altruism – defined as “unselfish concern for other people’s happiness and welfare.”
If we choose to receive the best of whatever from our friends and relatives, it could lead to frustration and despair.
Nevertheless, accepting human nature as it really is makes us focus on actions that also create value for others. In one word, we call that “symbiosis”.
Christians would refuse to worship the Hindu elephant god Ganesh.
Conversely, the Hindus could not be forced to worship Jesus Christ.
Once, after writing an article critical of the Roman Catholic faith, I received an e-mail threatening me with “a bright future in hell.” That reminded me of a nugget from Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People: “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”
It is also true, on the other hand, that people may change due to unforeseen circumstances. I saw this in my Uncle George on the day he got out of the New Bilibid Prison. He asked my father for advice on how to keep cool because it was his bad temper that had caused him to shoot his employer dead.
To quote Robert Ringer once more, “All people, at one time or another, deviate from their moral beliefs; they are sometimes hypocritical. More often than not, the cause is the desire for instant gratification.”
French novelist Victor Hugo (1802-1885) rightly observed, “Prosperity supposes capacity. Win the lottery and people think you are an able man.” (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
