[lit-ideas] Re: I think I'll come back as a squirrel next time
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 14:24:51 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Aug 28, 2004 1:55 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: I think I'll come back as a squirrel next time
Ritchie:
> A life of sisyphusistic nut lugging, while threatened by dogs, foxes,
fleas,
> eagles, snakes and rabies?
Sisyphusistic? The sound of that does damage to my soul. A shudder
shudders through my body at the sound of it. Until I said that word to
myself, I had not believed anything in existence could be intrinsically
evil. I have changed my mind. Please don't ever use that word again.
Please.
Now, on to squirrelly concerns. Andy admires squirrels. That doesn't
surprise me, I admire them too. They are industrious, whereas I'm plainly
not. I was taught that I should be, and I agree that I should be, but it's
just not in me. For that reason, I admire it in others. I don't envy them
their industriousness, I just admire it. Like the old joke: "I love work.
I could watch it for hours." What does surprise me is how many people hate
squirrels. "Bushy-tailed rats," they call them, and laugh seeing them fried
on electrical transformers or as roadkill or as cat capture. People can be
so cruel. I not only admire squirrels, I'm grateful to them, they remind me
of how I could be if I had any character. They make me realise that
nobility is latent in me, and that if I'd just reform my life, I could be
all noble like, and just the awareness of that potential in me makes me feel
noble enough that I don't feel any urgency about reformation. I am very,
very grateful to squirrels. People who hate squirrels -- I don't know.
They're probably industrious souls who resent squirrels for reminding them
how much fun they're missing out on.
A.A. A kindred spirit, finally. It's an interesting point that I hadn't
considered, which is, why do people hate squirrels so much? In part, I think,
it's human arrogance, our need to feel superior at another being's expense.
And along come squirrels, who don't care we exist, unlike say, dogs, who love
us dearly. (Carol, note the word love.) So we project onto squirrels our own
frustration at chasing after X,Y,Z but doing it without any joy. Then we see
their amazing energy and, given the option to admire it, we scorn it instead.
Is that so incredibly human or what?
Andy
Mike Geary
thinking about things I should be doing
in Memphis
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