The Pecking Order

Human Animals

“We are in moments pure and ageless as light, and the very next breath, we drop things or bruise the treasures of a lifetime. We need to soothe ourselves, not blame ourselves. We are rare, not perfect and seem to know all there is briefly, only to pound it into bread.”

Mark Nepo (The Book of Awakening)

A mockingbird has taken over the bird feeders. He sits nearby and waits for another bird to fly to the tree where the feeders hang, and then he pounces. Even bluejays are intimidated by him. My son's dog, Barley, who is a big, long-legged hound, is terrified of Liza, who is stands about three inches off the ground. Liza can be lying on the rug, eyes closed, presumably asleep, and Barley will still be cowering at the door, afraid to come into the room. If Liza growls, Barley hies herself hence to the basement and gets into her crate. It's a very strange thing, the pecking order among animal populations.


Birds, we know, are the closest living relatives to dinosaurs, and from the aggressiveness of my mockingbird, I think his predecessors must have been raptors. Dogs are, of course, descended from wolves; great hunters and protectors—with big teeth. Liza hardly has any teeth, but she's fierce anyway. Animals don't hide or curb their aggressive tendencies. One of the things that makes humans a different sort of critter is that we've learned to channel some of those tendencies—sort of. We evolved these big thinking brains so we could control our animal impulses, allowing us to work cooperatively, create community, and socialize in a civilized manner. And sometimes, we even manage to do that.


But, human beings are made from clay and sometimes we act like dirt. One moment, we can be saints, and the next, sinners. One day, we are the very essence of light, and the next, darkness personified. Even the best of us have moments of selfishness and jealousy, and even the worst of us can be gentle and loving. We, too, are strange in the way we establish a pecking order. And, make no mistake—there is a human pecking order. Those at the top can be brainlessly insensitive to those down the line. It happens everyday.


I believe most humans want to be decent, but we have this ego-side that just trips us up whenever we feel threatened. If we are afraid, it is animal nature to either run away or strike the first blow. Afterward, we may feel ashamed of our actions, even guilt-ridden, but that won't keep us from doing the same thing again the next time we feel threatened. The best we can do is admit when we are wrong and make amends. Sometimes we even find the strength to remove ourselves from the situation before we have said or done something we'll regret. In essence, we hie ourselves off the crate and hide—from our own aggressive nature.


As hard as it is, we must simply accept ourselves as both light and dark. We are “rare, not perfect.” We are capable of both love and hate, kindness and meanness. We are competitive human animals. But give us a few thousand more years and we may harness our aggressive tendencies for the betterment of our world. Anything is possible. I remain one hopeful Homo Sapien.


                                                          In the spirit,
                                                             Jane