A guest essay in The New York Times gave me something to think about. The essay was by Carl Safina, who is an American ecologist. Safina's books and other writings focus on our human relationship with the natural world. The title of Safina's essay was, "To Take On Trump, Think Like a Lion." To read Safina's essay, just click the link (The Times' paywall protections permitting, of course).
While I am always happy, personally, to read about various ways that concerned citizens might be able to "take on Trump," my attention was actually captured not by Safina's political suggestions, but rather by his description of the behavior of a pride of lions, who were out to grab dinner by way of hunting down, and then eating, a zebra or two:
One late afternoon long ago at the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, I was with a group of birders when we located a pride of sleeping lions. As evening approached, they yawned big-fanged yawns and slowly roused. About 10 in total, scarred veterans and prime young hunters.
It was time for them to hunt. But first they licked one another, pressed bodies and indulged in much face rubbing. They reaffirmed: “Yes, we are together. We remain as one.” Only then did they set off.
Their tawny bodies flowed up into the tall golden grass along the ridge of a low hill. One sat; the others kept walking. Ten yards on, another sat while the others walked. And so on until the ridge was lined with a hidden picket fence of hungry lions all attentively gazing onto a plain where a herd of unsuspecting zebras grazed. Then one, who’d remained standing, poured herself downhill. Her job was to spook the zebras into running uphill, directly into her veteran sisters and their spry younger hunters.
Rubbing noses does not catch a zebra. But only after the lions rubbed noses and reaffirmed a shared identity were the zebras in any danger. Those lions showed me that a sense of community is a prerequisite for coordinated strategy. They did not succeed in that hunt. But they would try again. Failure, these lions had learned, is necessary for success (emphasis added).
Now, finding out that lions operate on the basis that "we're in this together," gave me a great deal of satisfaction. That, of course, is exactly what I say about how our system of self-government is designed to work. I also liked hearing about those friendly "face rubs," and the other behavior that indicated that a deep personal friendship underlay the lions' efforts to survive, and to thrive. Again, my "find some friends" admonition is really based on my understanding that this kind of friend relationship is what we need, too, to succeed in accomplishing almost anything.
Lions, it appears, are not the exemplars of "individualism" that many, probably, think they are. Lions operate, and are ultimately successful, only on the basis of their collective action, founded on friendship, and expressed through their action in small groups. If I am getting Safina's message right (and I think I am), a better title for his essay might emphasize the "collective" nature of what lions do, and not imply that it's the individual lion that plays the most important role.
In other words, I'd suggest a new title for Safina's essay: "To Take On Trump, Think Like The Lions." Emphasizing joint and collective efforts, not individual efforts, is how to steer us towards political success: (1) Find some friends; (2) Create a group: (3) Act. To be clear, steps (1) and (2) could come in reverse order. It's that idea of getting together with others, who are united in friendship, that establishes the basis for successful political (and other action).
As I say, I really liked what Safna said. Think Like The Lions.
We are in this together, friends! Hear US roar!!
Foundation of Freedom
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