After hours glued to the vivid video, there were many scenes from BBC’s Nature’s Most Amazing Events that made lasting impressions on me. One recurring set up was a lion on the prowl for its prey, commonly a young, helpless animal like a baby zebra, wilderbeast, impala, elephant, or buffalo. These infants were targeted, chased down, isolated, and captured in a swift and agile manner.
While the young one is targeted, some species put on a defense- the large elephants rush at the lions, being cautious not to go too far into tiger territory for fear of becoming isolated from the herd and becoming an target, themselves. The buffaloes scare off the encroaching tigers with their big horns, but once the lion manages to isolate a scared baby buffalo from the herd, the buffaloes retreat and seem to accept the fate of the little one. The lion runs past countless members of the buffalo herd while chasing the terrified baby, and none of the herd step in and try to fend off the predator. They don’t even seem to be terrified for their own lives because they’re not being targeted. The other lions don’t attack the remaining buffalo, the buffalo continue to drink from the pond, nonchalantly, while the baby is chased down. Even the momma buffalo, who protects the baby from the first second it is born, is nowhere to be found when the lion is devouring its corpse.
This was shocking to me-how could they just let this happen to a helpless baby in their own herd? In many cases, the power of a small group working collectively can easily overpower a great predator (tiny japanese honey bees v. giant hornets). Why didn’t the buffalo work together? A small group of buffalo already fended off the lions to a certain degree. Why didn’t they all join horns and send the message home to the lions not to mess with the buffalo? Or was it too much to sacrifice? Was it easier to stand still and let someone’s baby get ripped to shreds?
After a while, my shock took the form of acceptance. I guess there really isn’t a point to stepping in and trying to defend the helpless buffalo. Consider it a corpse the second the lion manages to break through the short-lived defense put on by the mature buffalo. When it’s a done deal, why mess with it? And I thought, maybe humans should be like that too. Don’t stick your foot in where it isn’t needed. It’s not your problem. There’s no notion of mother, father, baby, cousin in the animal kingdom like there in for humans. It’s all about survival. It’s every animal for itself. There aren’t any piggyback rides for limping baby tigers, there’s no waiting for a diseased calf to catch up when time is of the essence. The mothers do everything for their baby, up until the point where it’s capable of hunting on its own. Then it’s cut loose. Or when the mother’s own life would be in jeopardy if she continues to fight for her babe, it’s also cut loose then. It doesn’t even seem like there’s time for revenge at that point. The elephant don’t storm the tigers when the predators manage to bring down a baby elephant. They continue to go about their lives, while the tigers chew up the corpse right next to their watering hole. How can they be so detached?
Then my acceptance morphed into understanding. Ideally, we could be unattached to our friends and family. We would understand that we are isolated souls with different karma, anyway. But that’s not how human society works. We still owe a debt of gratitude to our family, we can’t bear for our loved ones to be murdered. We’re still attached.
What if humans acted the way animals do? Someone is stabbed right next to us and we continue to sip our cup of coffee. Well, the fella’s dead anyway. What’s the use in reporting it or running after the killer? Society would deteriorate (even more). People would get away with anything.
If someone had a seizure and no one calls 911 because we don’t even know the person, we could get punished by society. Why? We all are a little responsible for society because we are society. Our actions, though seemingly insignificant, do contribute to the whole. I always thought the US is stupid for sticking its head into the business of other countries. But now I feel like we have to step in. We have to make a stand, because if we don’t, if no one does, we all end up standing for the acceptance of the massacre. Slavery would still exist. Bomb us as much as you’d like and get away with it because we aren’t going to fight back. We can’t just accept it. For our own survival, we have to fight for what’s right. Sometimes, we have to step in.
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