Animals

[Khandro]

“I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain’d, I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition, They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things.... Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.”

― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass: The Death-Bed Edition

I'm using the above quote in a project I'm working on & thought I'd pass it on, do you agree?

[wolf63]

Apart from Humans, all animals live for the moment.

We could learn much from the animals around us if only we would pay attention and listen to them.

[Canary42]

Cats have decimated the songbird population - very worthy of emulating I must say.

Animals have many other traits we would do well to avoid (e.g. if food is short some birds will eat the youngest offspring).

[Ken4155]

Substitute the word 'simpletons' for the word 'animals' and the message would be the same.

[Khandro]

Canary; //Cats have decimated the songbird population//
That isn't the cat's fault, blame humans for keeping them in an artificial state outside of 'nature'.

And you must admit , "They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins".

Ken; So you echo Whitman & say, “I think I could turn and live with simpletons" ?

[Ken4155]

No, Khandro, but i sometimes find myself envying the uncomplicated life of a simpleton.

[Khandro]

Ken; Perhaps what you mean isn't simpleton, but the state of innocence, - as found in animals, children, & in the Garden of Eden before 'the fall' etc. ?

[emmie]

animals like Lions and Tigers you mean, can't see that as having a happy ending. personally i like many animals but i don't have any as pets now.

[1ozzy]

I understand why some creatures eat their offspring Canary ;-/

[barry1010]

There is some shocking, awful behaviour in the animal kingdom. Fighting to the death to be alpha male, males eating newborns, whales cruelly playing with seals before killing them. I watched the footage of chimps chasing down monkeys to rip them apart. Many animals will fight to the death to protect their territory, their food, their right to mate.

There is no doubt that the human being is the nastiest of all animals, but placid and self contained cannot describe many animals.

[emmie]

just what i was thinking Barry...

[barry1010]

Another view. Most cat and dog owners would go without food to make sure their pets ate. Most cats and dogs would eat their owners if they were starving, given the opportunity.

[emmie]

what a thought for the early morning....

[davebro]

many animal live in a state of almost perpetual fear - I don't envy that

[barry1010]

I blame Walt Disney

[rowanwitch]

Also the cats songbirds thing isn't so clear cut as canary might believe.
A) the increase in the magpie population has had a massive impact on our songbirds as corvids are massive predators of nestlings and can clear out every nest site in their area
B). infections often spread by feeders that are not cleaned regularly
C) aflatoxin from cheap peanuts kills many tits every year
D)loss of nest sites a tidy garden with well trimmed bushes is not likely to provide suitable homes to raise a feathered family

[barry1010]

Not just magpies. I have never seen so many jays in my garden as I have this year. This is unusual because they don't really flock. Puzzling

[1ozzy]

If I was starving I'd eat my dog or cat Barry, or even my budgie, but the budgie wouldn't sustain me for long.
Great analogy,,

[Khandro]

Some of the above may be true, but this morning just before daybreak I listened to the dawn chorus - robins always first, - beautiful, & from where I'm sitting I can see up the valley two horses grazing & my garden is now full of birds which I have fed, no "awful behaviour" in sight.

And btw, nothing contradicts with what Whitman said, he doesn't claim they are all have sweet, angelic behaviour.

[rowanwitch]

Barry, You had a nest nearby... They have brood sizes up to five or six and often fledge them all in a good year. They stay together until the winter as the youngsters learn from their parents six or seven jays in a neighbourhood are pretty hard to miss and may seem like more

[rowanwitch]

I'm afraid I am of the "nature red in tooth and claw" view. I suspect Tennyson v Whitman would be an interesting battle of the poets