Sometimes, the prospect of living in this world scares me. Today I rallied against my father in a heated discussion of practicality versus idealism. While I staunchly held onto my belief that one needs a balance of both to lead a contented life, a part of me resonated with his opinion what Friedrich Nietzsche once summed up in a single sentence, "If life is a struggle for existence in which the fittest survive, then strength is the ultimate virtue and weakness is the ultimate fault". I knew this for I had the misfortune of learning it the hard way during my National Service. There I saw how virtues of fairness and altruism were overpowered by the selfish need to make one's own life better and easier, even if it was at the expense of others. If these acts were limited to the minority, one could keep some faith in humanity, but when you see almost everyone, even those you consider friends, tireless in the pursuit of self preservation, you know the ideal world of m