The Human Condition

Nick Welsh took a deep breath, as he looked up into his crystal reflection in the mirror over the bathroom sink. The emotion running through him was completely ironic, but none the less he was nervous. He turned the sink on, and let the water run for a few seconds before he cupped his hands, and let the cool water puddle inside. Splashing his face a few times with the running water he thought himself to be silly. ‘Come on Nick! You can do this.’ He repeated the thought over and over again until he almost believed himself. Drying his face, he took one last look at his reflection. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, he was a dashing young man. Brilliant green eyes, dark wavy hair. Every girl in his graduating class had had a massive crush on him, but he never had the time of day for any of them. Nodding to his reflection he hurried out of the bathroom, and towards the conference room. He had five minutes before he presented his project to the Oxford Science board. With this project Nick believed he could enhance the Oxford name, and provide abundant amounts of peace and pleasure to the general public. He entered the room. “Ladies and Gentleman. I Welcome and Thank You for your time and consideration on behalf of my academic research. With this project I believe we at Oxford have the opportunity to change the world. I proudly present to you, ‘The Welsh Solution’.” Nick pressed his remote and the slide show behind him switched to an elaborate layout of the chemical prototype drug. A few of the other members in the room scribbled down notes. Nick continued, “I have created a drug by looking at the effects and side effects of various street drugs and medical drugs, I have come up with a solution to the Human Condition. The Welsh Solution will be able to take away the very thing that cause humans to become chaotic; emotion. It will take away the basic ten human emotions, leaving humans with the ability to be productive and live a life pain free. The ten emotions include, sorrow, anger, fear, disgust, hate, pity, senseless love, envy, joy, and confusion. Though many will ask why joy must be eliminated, I remind the audience that joy can cause a lot of complex emotions to arise from the situation. These complex emotions tend to cause more harm than good. I believe that in the grand image of things that the cost of joy is a small price to pay in order to take away the pain of such negative emotions. This drug would be able to reach every individual all the way from overly emotional teens to offenders of hate crimes. The beauty of the pill is that in creating it we can leave it completely to free will, letting people chose what they wish to do. It allows people to leave behind the mental walls that prevent them from being a working member of society, and from living a normal life.” Nick smiled when he finished his pitch, hoping that he had done enough to let the board actually complete his project. The part about free will seemed to have moved his audience greatly, as many of them knew the hardship of sorrow and pain, but to some of the others, they enjoyed the idea of solving hate. Hate was the thing that kept so many of them from finding peace. The drug seemed to be perfect. Nick stood at the front holding his breathe as he waited for an answer. After a few moments the head of the department rose from her chair, “Those in favor of allowing Mr. Welsh to continue his project please raise your hand.” She spoke with conviction as she herself rose her hand. One by one each person began to raise their hand. They all hoped this drug would be the solution to the prospects of the upcoming war, and prevent the world from rising to world war three. They were desperate for change. Nick smiled and let himself breath as he watched his project become a reality. With their desperation to change the increasing amount of crime and civic unrest within the major states of the world, Nick knew he had everything he need to create his ultimate drug, the weapon that allowed him to become Europe’s number one scientist.