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| The fine and excellent Milo. |
There was Milo, the male leader of the flock, chasing a goose and biting its tail feathers (and the rear end itself). I've seen them do this countless times but this time seemed different, more intense. By the time I caught wind of it, Milo was already on the tail end (no pun intended) of his rampage. What I saw was a goose's rear end, sticking out of the bushes on the edge of the property. Milo was biting that rear end and honking at him/her fiercely.
All the while, the goose lay perfectly still. I thought maybe Milo had killed it and I was horrified, but then I noticed that the geese weren't bothered at all. It was a very different response than the one I saw when one of their babies was killed. The flock was totally cool with this event so I returned to what I was doing, which was sitting on the steps and hanging out with them. I like these guys.
Later on, I checked the goose in the bushes. Its body and tail end had not moved, but now its neck was giving its head a tour of the nearby leaves, eating this and that green delicacy. The goose remained like this for a very long time.
It was obvious that it was playing dead to resolve a difference between it and Milo. What a sensible routine! Milo got his aggressive rocks off by chasing and biting tail feathers. And the "victim" paid homage to Milo by making believe s/he was dead for a time. Then, all debts paid and emotional balance restored, the goose came out of the bushes and normal flock activities resumed.
Why can't humans deal with their aggressions in similarly sensible ways? These geese -- and other animals -- are teaching us important lessons but we're not paying attention. I urge everyone to read Konrad Lorentz's wise book, "On Aggression". It should be required reading in our insanely violent world. There are countless ways to deal with aggression -- and war doesn't have to be on the menu.
2 comments:
Back in the day, I worked for a corporation that bought hook, link and sinker all those management development programs that were considered so great in the 70's. Now don't get me wrong the company was a great one it even had a heart.
But many weekends were spent being trained by outside professionals on how to work as a team, losing that ego, following orders etc. Some training materials even included those used by the military.
Flash forward to today and look at what kids grow up on; violence on TV, violence is their companion on life-like video games, movies and sadly sometimes in their very homes.
So it is no wonder that aggression is on the rise and that the act of killing can done without remorse.
Humans can be trained and conditioned and recondition to do this, the military does it to produce 'good' soldiers. And we non-participatory parents are doing it to our children by allowing them to participate in these forms of violent pleasure.
Small babies inadvertently 'smack' a face when they swing about their tiny uncontrollable little arms. But good and caring parents cup these tiny hands and cover them with kisses and gently teach not to 'hit'.
I think we as individuals want to be kind and gentle but business has found it can make lots of dollars selling aggression and violence. And what is saddest of all is that parent who used to 'cup the hand with kisses' has gone missing.
That's it in a nutshell Annie. Your words are more like a standalone post than a comment. And you're right. There are few people who care about anyone else these days. I often think that our kids (16 and 17 now) have only known an insane world. How sad. They've never seen thoughtful thinking and nation-wide caring. That's stuff from the past.
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