So I’ve been thinking a lot about human nature….
No, seriously. And specifically, about commuting and animal rights.
I swear they’re related.
I spend a lot of time in my car—5 hours alone yesterday, which is where I had time to mentally blog. I drive about 45 minutes each way for my work commute. This is nothing compared to what a lot of people do (I have one friend who drives over an hour each way) but it’s city driving, and I find it very stressful. Put a ton of people in giant metal vehicles in streets not really designed for that kind of volume (and, I swear, outfitted with streetlights preset to all go off at the precisely wrong moment), tell them they have to go somewhere they don’t really want to (aka work) at a very certain time which happens to be the exact same time everyone else needs to go somewhere right next door to them, and it gets ugly. I find that as a rule, when under stress, commuters regress to their lowest possible selves. That car trying to merge simply can’t be allowed in front of you, because it will slow you down, and that is just unbearable. The people on the other side of the intersection can wait and miss their turn because it is much more important that you go on ahead, despite the fact that you can clearly see you won’t make it all the way out of the intersection before the light changes. I had a coworker tell me she followed me home the previous day and I pre-emptively apologized in case I’d done something bitchy, since commuting brings out the worst in me. On the road, when you feel so invulnerable in your big vehicle and where everyone else becomes an impersonal “it” in another car in your way, it’s shockingly easy to be a narcissistic, impatient scrooge.
I worry that, when human beings get challenged, we tend to react with our lower selves. The part of us that is self above all others, and “winning” (no matter how it’s defined—in commuting, as getting through an intersection or to work on time) over kindness.
The story about the Chinese toddler that’s been in the news feeds this worry. I haven’t watched the video (and yes, if you have, I’m judging…why the hell does anyone need to watch a child be fatally injured? What kind of sick voyeurism is that? I don’t even believe it needs to be publically available) but I’ve read about it. The people walking by on the street—the “passer-by’s”—either didn’t notice what was happening or in that second decided something else was more important than stopping to help. Both options have pretty horrible implications—either way, it seems, it’s a case of complete and total self-absorption. And it’s terrifying.
And I see the same thing when I think about how we treat animals. The news story about the wild animals hunted down in Ohio was deeply disturbing. (Maybe I should just stop watching the news…. ) Obviously, innocent people needed to be protected. But let’s be honest here—in the battle of man vs animal, we have decisively won. It’s not even a contest. Sure, your random person/statistic may get stung by a bee or bitten by a shark, but in reaction to the ancient feelings of vulnerability, we have developed weapons that have rendered us completely in control of the animal world. So now it’s become a question of how we use our power. And more often than not we use it thoughtlessly or cruelly.
Think about it. The man who owned the animals released them to their certain death rather than simply leave them in their cages while he took his own life. The majority of people tracking down the animals in Ohio grabbed shotguns instead of tranquilizer guns.
And it is true on a more general level as well. We have achieved mastery over the animal kingdom, and we’re very clearly dictators. The main school of thought is “control” rather than “coexistence.” I mean, it’s fine if there are wild animals in a box in the zoo, or if dangerous creatures live on a refuge in the middle of a country on the other side of the world. But if comes closer to home, our priorities are the priorty, with little concern for animal environments or lives.
Don’t get me wrong. We know how much I love me a good shopping mall that most likely is built in the middle of what used to be an open field with lots of cute cuddlies wandering through it. And I am no where near a vegetarian. I’m not trying to be a hypocrite, and I’m not sitting here saying human endeavors need to take a backseat to animals’. I’m just saying that, while survival of the fittest is just a dandy concept, guess what, we’ve survived. So why can’t we focus on other dandy concepts like, oh, “conscience” or “compassion.” Since we have the upper hand, we ought not to abuse it by being thoughtless or cruel to those creatures we control.
The way we treat the majority of our animals bred for food is appalling. The idea that we test cosmetics on animals is horrendous—let’s keep a monkey in a cage and make sure it doesn’t go blind so that we know our mascara will really make our lashes look voluminous. The sheer number of domestic animals abandoned or abused on a daily basis should make any being with a brain sick to their stomach. And yet, this stuff happens. Partly because we have some pretty big issues that take up more of our allotted national consciousness, true. But also because there are no consequences. Because we are invulnerable, and they are impersonal. Because even if we’re not out there scaling trees to avoid creatures with larger and stronger bodies, we’re still at war—now, having enough land and food for our species is the battle we’re trying to win, and apparently, kindness can be damned.
I know, my heart is bleeding its liberal blood all over the place. So I’ll stop. I just think it’s worth thinking about. I don’t think human nature is inherently evil, and again, there are definitely bigger issues to worry about. But we reveal ourselves most truly when we feel we are in power, and there are places where we just fall short. It never hurts to be kinder than you actually have to be, and it’s never a bad thing to show mercy and compassion to the beings sharing our space, especially when they’re weaker than us.
So let’s end where we began—me!! If you take nothing else from this block take this message—when you see me driving next to you, let me merge into your lane. It’ll make us all much happier ☺
Much love!
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