Abdullah

When I was staying at a hostel in Argentina I met this interesting guy called Abdullah. Abdullah, a heroin addict of 7 years from Dubai who had spent time living in London and Melbourne and India and eventually moved to Salvador in Brazil where he learnt to kick his heroin addiction by substituting it for crack and subsequently kicked his crack habit by substituting it for pussy, was on a holiday in Buenos Aires for a month or so. The guy was full of interesting stories from his night with a transvestite to his business of helping out struggling drug addict artists for a heavy percentage of their profits.

Anyways we got along swell but there was always one difference in our life philosophy. I was always a believer in human spirit and that love and compassion will help us grow together, while he believed that a person had to take what he could get, whenever he could to help himself. He would ask me the same question a few times during our stay together –

“If you and me were locked in a room together and there was only one sandwich that only one of us could eat, what would you do?”

He followed this question by declaring that he would kill for that sandwich and I would say that I would let the other person have it. But there is part of me that has doubts over this approach now. When you look at the history of evolution it is always survival of the fittest and natural selection, so if I’m not willing to fight for my survival isn’t that me being naturally selected to die? I guess my life philosophy isn’t compatible with living…at least not in that scenario. I mean if I’m so sure that my ideals are right and his aren’t should I let mine die off with me for the sake of his living on?

“If it came down to your life or mine I would do the stupid thing and let you keep on living” - Built To Spill

- Eden (while listening to Vienna Circus Live @ The Beach Road Hotel)