Of Brothers, Power and Genes

Its ended now, hopefully, but until a while ago they were squabbling - like dogs? Children? Enemies? Or what?

What makes a brother fight brother, I wonder! What makes one brother treat another like the biggest of enemies?

If at all there is anyone in the world who can truly understand one, it is a brother or a childhood friendand, yes, a sister in the case of a girl, with exceptions, of course! Yet, brothers fight brothers and have been doing so for centuries. Some have gone to the extent of exiling their brothers or even stopping them short with a well-directed knife in the heart, from behind!

I know, there are theories of all sorts sibling rivalry et al. But, is that all? I mean, even when the brothers are not kids any more and therefore, are not really fighting for their parents love (what with many of them having already departed for their unearthly abodes and so on), they keep at it. And, sometimes, they fight over trifles. Mostly over inheritance rights, even when there is more than they can use in a lifetime or seven. Everyone saw the recent bigfight on TV, newspapers etc. The inheritance in question was a mindnumbing sum running into tens of thousands of crores. If one of them had agreed to even a mere one percent of the sum in question, he would have had enough to last many lifetimes except, of course, that the one with 99% would have all the power and the one with 1% very little - in comparison. So, I guess, its all about power.

Yes, power that is the one thing all men (or shall I say, most) desire most. Power means wealth, influence, the ability to spread ones genes far and wide, just as the crafty Chenghiz Khan did some hundred years ago (I forget the actual dates). Yes, he was powerful, wealthy, conquered and controlled large territories and most importantly, sowed his oats with wild abandon, becoming in the process, the most successful man ever in the spread-my-genes-far-and-wide stakes.

I wonder, how many brothers today who squabble with their kin and stab them in the back and front, have the balls to do what Chenghiz did. If they cant do so, their best bet would be to let their brothers, with a similar gene pool, continue to prosper and do well and spread their collective genes.

Boy! I have come a long way from brotherhood to fatherhood! I think I ought to stop this rambling right here, before my brother reads this and gets a peek into my mind, claiming all my share of paternal property (or at least, 99%of it).

Is it better to take less and live happily or is it better to fight over the smallest crumbs and spend ones life paying lawyers, picnicking in courts and filing false accusations against each other? I wonder!

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