David Brooks, "The Deepest Self": People Are Like Onions

"Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers."

- Shrek, "Shrek" (2001)

As Putin masses troops along Russia's border with the Ukraine, David Brooks is here to reassure us concerning the substance of human nature in his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Deepest Self" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/opinion/brooks-the-deepest-self.html?ref=opinion&_r=0) . Brooks writes:

"In fact, while we are animals, we have much higher opportunities. While we start with and are influenced by evolutionary forces, people also have the chance to make themselves deep in a way not explicable in strictly evolutionary terms.

So much of what we call depth is built through freely chosen suffering. People make commitments — to a nation, faith, calling or loved ones — and endure the sacrifices those commitments demand. Often this depth is built by fighting against natural evolutionary predispositions."

Got it: People - even people like Putin - are like onions. They have layers built through suffering around or even against their natural cores.

Thanks, David. This is just what I needed to know.

[Re President Obama's Ocean Reef Club golf vacation, see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2014/03/fareed-zakaria-why-this-time-obama-must.html]