Hurt People Hurt People.
Free People Free People.

Watching Thirteen is far more an emotional experience than the trite television offerings on other networks. I was watching this program that documented international wildlife doctors who nurse illegally trafficked animals to health then released them back into their natural habitats. Because the wild animals had been interacting with humans since their birth, the fear of humans–their wildness–had been robbed of them. The doctors had to manufacture negative experiences to bring back the fear wild animals need to have towards humans to support their transitions back to their natural habitats, to help them survive. It was devastating to watch a trusting spider monkey, so expressive with his glossy black eyes, realize that he was now captured and in prolonged isolation, to see a confused betrayal sting him painfully, especially by those associated with comfort and the attainment of his basic needs. Even though this act was to support a larger, more important goal of inevitable acclimation to the wild, I couldn’t stop the floodgates. What if this goal was no longer attainable? When this monkey was eventually introduced to the wild for good, the troop he was placed within never fully embraced him and he was found dead several weeks later on the jungle floor. (More and more plentiful floodgates) Is it the place of humans to unnaturally return a (not really but should be) wild animal to the wild who has never experienced true wild? Is this process, though well intended, yet another extension of same issue? Can you ever manufacture an instinct? Can you ever recreate “wild”? Does anyone have the right to manipulate circumstances to facilitate what they believe another should be experiencing, even if well-intended, even if it would support survival? What are the other options? I was struck by this ethical dilemma. Then, relatedly, I was struck by the potential of what we could do for each other, how we can impact each other, humans, based not on presumption and misguided self-involved arrogance. But we don’t; we squander opportunities to build each other, to help each other truly. We project ourselves upon too much. And we find ways to hate, millions of ways. Find ways to whisper hurtful things. Isn’t it a pity? Now, isn’t it a shame.

I went through my next day keenly noticing how I saw people treating others, how I was treating others. How many smiles I gave out. How well I listened. I tried not to bottle feed another with what I presumed they may need at intervals I presumed they needed it. I let them be, but with me. I gave them what they needed to smile. Because it’s easy to make someone smile. You just have to. But how can you impact beyond a moment is what I wondered next, as this is kind of my job. Though not as easy, I think it’s to encourage freedom, to help them be more free–emotionally, intellectually, artistically, so that without barriers they may be themselves, whomever they may be. So that they may continue to evolve, free of obstruction.

What does this have to do with the monkey? I don’t know. I think I am just writing something that I want to remember. So I’m going to put it here.