Paradox of Human Nature

El coloso
Asensio Juliá

Modern humans are like tamed lions: it is in our nature to love but also to kill. We refrain from killing not because we do not want to — we are simply tamed, habituated by the society to follow certain rules and customs in order to meet its needs. But sometimes, just like a tamed lion, our wild nature resurfaces and takes over. In an instant, we become the savage beasts that we once used to be: we explode, we fight, we sometimes even kill. If that is true, the question of efficient functioning of the society aside, is it right or wrong to kill? How could anyone be penalised for being true to their nature, penalised for being true to themselves? The major argument here certainly is: a person that kills is penalised for their inability to control this nature, and not for staying true to it. But isn't that precisely were the real problem lies? That our attempts at self-control have the same effect as a cracking whip and iron bars of the cage have on a tamed lion? In other words, isn't the self control we try to exert upon ourselves ultimately what leads us towards loosing the control in the first place?