I wish my life could be like this

Texanne

Texanne

5,000+ Posts
Walt Whitman:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they're 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 kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the earth.
 
Animals live life the way it really is. All we need is a little something to eat, enough room to lay down for sleep and take care of our offspring. Anything and everything else is just crap made up by humans.
 
ya, being an animal in the wild is great...everyday your searching for food and water to keep from dying of starvation and unless you're the king of the jungle, you're looking over your should constantly to make sure your not about to get killed and eaten by another animal.....sounds so wonderful
rolleyes.gif
 
my post was in response to Cana's post...

but the author is surely contrasting human life with animal life...he's making a statement about both.
 
Why didn't Walt turn and live with animals, so placid and self contain'd?
He stood and looked at them, looked long and longer.

They didn't sweat or whine about their condition,
Unable as they were to either whine or sweat (unless they be horses),
The cows didn't lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
Busy as they were slinging snot around their shoulders to ward off flies,
The animals didn't make Walt sick discussing their duty to God,
Since they had not the capacity for abstract thought or even simple speech,
None were dissatisfied, nor demented with the mania of owning things,
Nor with complex emotions like love, nor with the knowledge of their own poverty,

"Far better these -- far better the dumb and senseless beast," thought Walt,
Not one kneeled to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Though cats will sometime kill a rival's kittens, and alpha wolves can be ******* when assigning places in the pack,
None were respectable or unhappy over the earth,
Nor were they happy, nor were they safe,
But free in the law of the jungle, both to waste and be wasted in anonymity and complete irrelevance.

Why didn't Walt turn and live with the animals?
Perhaps then he could have dispensed with self-importance,
And absurd and stupid lines,
That leave our eyes and ears to fight it out,
As to which is the more offended.
 
Don't be fooled, animals are in constant survival mode. They don't have any leisure time. If they did then they'd spend it waging wars, buying crap they don't need, and watching college football.

If there was an animal Walt, his poem would be about how he wished he could sit and watch the humans run their complex lives, but he can't because he is more worried about getting ripped apart and eaten alive by one of his many predators. Which of course is a problem because it cuts into his own time trying to kill any other animal small enough for him to rip apart and eat limb for limb, all the while trying to find some water to drink and somewhere warm to sleep without dying a horrible bloody death.
 
Obviously I wouldn't trade my life for the life of an animal, but there are many things about some animal's lives that are really models for how we should live our lives. Not the least of which, as Christ said, is worrying.

Not sure I agree with this part:

In reply to:
Click to expand...
 
I would love to be drinking water from a stream with my family and then have a mountain lion pounce an maul one of us to death.

Yeah, I wish my life could be like that.
rolleyes.gif
 
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