Sameness

“There is no sameness. If you looked down upon the world from above, like an albatross, you might phant’sy there was some sameness among the people crowding the land below you. But we are not albatrosses, we see the world from ground level, from within our own bodies, through our own eyes, each with our own frame of reference, which changes as we move about, and as others move about us. This sameness is a conceit of yours, an authors hobgoblin, something you fret about in your hammock late at night.” ---Neal Stephenson, The System of the World

Sometimes it's too bad we are not all the same; with the same needs, desires, fixes. We could take care of each other by rote, easily determine what is missing from the happiness equation, and supply that deficiency. No effort, no delving into the consciousness of another, no silly anticipation of needs, just a simple answer to the simple question 'What do I want?', it would be the same for everyone else . . .