While
watching a documentary recently on the one subject that I do watch with
passion, that is wildlife, I was struck with a very essential difference
between human beings and animals. As the proud human race we insist on showing
off our superiority and finesse by correcting the behavior of others and
constantly reminding them, to not behave like animals. This documentary was
focused on predators in the wild with particular emphasis on the cheetah. The
film began with a hair-raising shot of the cheetah going for a kill of a gazelle
and missing his target by barely a few centimeters. I wasn’t sure whether to
feel relieved for the gazelle or sorry for the cheetah that was about to go
hungry. A little of both maybe!
In
spite of being the fastest animal on land the cheetah missed his kill, here is
why. The cheetah gains his maximum speed
in just a few seconds and is not able to hold that speed for over a minute as
his body heats up to an extent that he can breakdown. Which means that he has
to plan his hunt extremely carefully as chances of success are very often,
quite low. If unsuccessful he could go for days without food and if successful
he will still have to try and protect his prize from other predators and
scavengers that are in the jungle. Quite often, his kill is snatched away by
other more powerful animals making the entire exercise futile.
The
comparison between humans and animals lies in this that an animal like the
cheetah that has great speed and limited strength in terms of protecting his
own interests has a much stronger sense of security as compared to us. He has
the confidence in his own ability that will sooner or later lead him to a
successful kill. In all honesty this is a matter of life and death for him and
yet he is unafraid. Now coming to the far superior race of human beings. We
display an immense lack of any security in ourselves on a very daily and
sometimes even trivial basis. The biggest example of that is our need to
constantly hoard. The need to amass and collect for years and years regardless
of what our true consumption is. Whereas with the cheetah or any other predator
there is no guarantee of the next meal or whether or not they will live to see
another day and yet there is a clear absence of any hoarding behavior. I
actually used to know a lady who thought she would run out of ice apart from
other things and went and bought an oversized deep freezer for her tiny and
over stuffed house so that she could store ice that would last an entire year!
Evolution
that has supposedly turned us into very advanced beings has also made us highly
insecure. The knowledge that should have given us the strength to say whatever
comes our way we have the ability to handle it has actually made us more
afraid. The more we learn, the more we look at other learned people and think
of how little we know. The more wealth we amass, the more we envy the fortune
of others. Now I don’t mean to imply that hunger and thirst are not good. These
are qualities that keep us going and help us strive towards excellence. But
somehow, somewhere we have surpassed our basic instincts and gone beyond to the
primal sin of gluttony. Nothing satisfies us and nothing is enough. We need to
constantly hoard and put away for the future, even if it means inconveniencing
today just to ensure we have something as childish as ice for a year. Living
for the moment has degenerated to a very popular phrase, which is to be only given
to others as advise and never really followed by us.
At
this point I am forced to look beyond the so called educated hoarders and look
at a day labourer. He looks to earn in a day what he is capable of consuming in
that day. The minute he reaches his daily requirement, he stops work and
returns home to either family or friends. He is larger hearted and more giving
than some of the richest hoarders I know. When he sleeps at night, it is with
an empty pocket, a clear conscience and a sense of security and confidence in
himself and his tomorrow. In a very basic and animalistic way, he is closer to
the cheetah in all his glory and sense of pride than the richest and most powerful
men that can afford to employ him daily. Maybe the real animal is no longer
living in the jungle.
About the author: Neha Parmar is a wildlife photographer and a conservationist with some tolerable talent for writing. If you liked, connected or have a contrary perspective with anything that you read please feel to share your feedback.
To see more work by Neha Parmar
https://www.facebook.com/NehaParmarPhotography.
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