I've always loved animals, for more reasons than I can recall at the moment. One of the things I like about animals is that since they don't possess the “intelligence” that we great humans have, they are also genuine and unpretentious. No double-standards, and generally fair (or so I believe).
There are, however, a couple of laws of the animal kingdom which we humans shun. Or do we, really?
The fight for females
Anybody who watches Animal Planet genre of programs on television would tell you that if there's one thing common to all animals, it is that the males, when they reach mating age, fight it out with other males and “earn” the right to mate with the eligible female(s). And no, this has nothing to do with The War For Women. This is what evolution is about.
Sacrifice of one for the sake of the herd
One zebra or two fall prey to the crocodiles while crossing the river; but that is precisely why the herd can complete its migration.
One deer is snapped up by the lionesses in the African bush, but that allows the rest to move on in search of pastures.
That's what “survival of the fittest” means.
How does the civilised human society take to these rules? Do we shun them? Or do we, consistent with the human trait of double-standards, shun them openly but widely adopt them anyway, albeit secretly?
We adopt them, secretly and sometimes maliciously!
What is politics about finally?
Isn't it the same?
I think we are hypocritical about both in opposite ways..
The fight over females, we shun it but also practise it....
The sacrifice of one for the sake of the community, we praise(u know, balidaan and all) but seldom practise it ourselves (except for some of our armed forces).
Good one...
And I LOVED the piece of the neoindian from the link that ur piece provides!
@JSincro: You said it!
@amrtua: Hmm .. I hadn't thought of it that way, but what you say makes sense. Martyrdom is best left to others!
@Sharvani: Yes - neo is easily one of my fav bloggers. I strongly recommend you to follow him (if you aren't doing that already :)
I agree, 'Martyrdom is best for others' - we are constantly talking about how much women love sacrifice, for example. Men are made to give up their dreams for the family too.
In the past we chose some chores nobody wanted to perform for a group of people and called them 'shudra'... was that survival of the fittest?
And fighting over females (or males) ...we have made a lot of rules to make sure men do not have to fight over females. But I think by making women dependent on men - we have interfered with the natural system and created insecurity for a lot of women to fight over men.
This does not make anybody happy - least of all the men.
I blogged about what men need liberation from... I think men need the freedom to fight for loving and marrying the women they choose to.