To posit that there might be some changeless state of final attainment, whether through the aquisition of fame or money, or being able to make all of one's own life choices without acceding to external compulsion, is deeply misleading. We would do better to remember that it is in the nature of unhappiness only to be changeless, and to see happiness as an intermittent state -- sometimes expected, most often not -- that deepens the textures of present life, rather than being a final destination in which, once arrived at, we will surely plan to stay.

In other words, the emotions are not just those spasmodic bursts of feeling that well up in response to external stimuli. They are the bedrocks on which much, if not all, of our social and cultural lives rest. It is that realisation that dispels the idea that, in some future utopia, we might evolve to a stage wher we feel no emotion -- that, and the fact that if we ever did manage to acheive such a state, we would arguably have ceased to be human at all.

While respecting each individual's right to cultural specificity, the fact that we all recognise and desire the happiness of others is more important than noting their peculiar dietary customs or attempting to understand their spiritual beliefs.

If we are all capable of feeling the same way at certain times, whatever the specific causes of that feeling, then we should be able to help each other more, from the personal to the inter-governmental level. Sometimes this happens, but all too often it doesn't, and when it doesn't, it is because we forget our common humanity.