"If only they could talk"

Gao Huan

Thank God that they cannot talk!

Well, I mean that it��s good that those animals don��t speak our language, though perhaps they have a language of their own.

The place where you can see the largest number of animals is the zoo. Just imagine when you step into the zoo you hear two ostriches gossiping about their feeder��s sulkiness from the quarrel with his wife. Do you find it funny? Maybe initially you do, but that is because animals normally don��t talk. If animals always share the same language with us, don��t you find it hopelessly banal? The zoo will then be exploding with the noises of trivial gossip and grand gobbledygook, which have been unnerving us so frequently, and those words come out of different shapes of body from our own at that! Moreover, these animals will probably cry out constantly, ��Let me go! Set me free!�� This would render a conscientious visitor feel guilty and bother an indifferent visitor��s ��peaceful�� mind.

I suddenly think of Animal Farm, the masterpiece of George Orwell. In it, animals not only talk, they do almost everything that human beings do. There are corrupt leaders and fooled folks. The story reads immensely funny at first, but becomes more depressing as it unfolds itself. The ��wise�� pigs and their running dogs (literally) are indeed terrible.

Thank God that the animals in the zoo are still fascinating and ��unwise�� now. It feels so good to be close to Nature, though they are no longer natural. They are mentally and physically inactive and distorted. It must be painful for these formerly wild ones to be caged in such small places. But to be more philosophical, they are just behind visible bars and we human beings have been in invisible cages always.

I am not saying that all the confinements we have are wrong. We do need rules in our practices in an organized society. To some degree, civilization is the domestication of savage instincts. But there is still so much suffocating stuff around us, such as the dealings with other people.

Among the main causes of the failure to achieve a true and satisfactory interpersonal relationship is the defeat of genuine communication by contrived communication. In other words, we have to live by an established social code of affected communication, then as a result, we get sick sometimes.

The first aspect of affected communication is that we say things that we don��t mean.

I find it ridiculous to tell an interviewer how much I like that job, how much I am willing to take the challenges and pressure and how important the nature of the job seems to me. But how can I know if the job is really important and to my taste before I do it? Who really like pressure per se? Those claiming so are actually satisfied with or driven by the compensation they get mentally or materially. Otherwise they must be psychologically abnormal. However, I still say such stupid things to the interviewers, putting on a look of energy, optimism and potential of a future workaholic. Talk in such cases is actually a way to make a living and a successful talk is what impresses the other party most, the key being a kind of creative affectation.

I find it ridiculous too to talk about things that don��t interest us at all. But sometimes for the sake of politeness or other more pragmatic ends, we carry on with enthusiasm. Why should we praise someone��s new clothes in a dramatic tone when we think it is simply so-so? As an observant on-looker, I can often see that it is merely white lie, or worse, flattery. I would rather keep silent, though unfortunately sometimes I also tell white lies without excessive devotion. Talk often gets us nowhere and simply wastes our precious time. If thinking is involved at all, it is wearied in stead of being sharpened. Gerald and Hermione in Women in love often discuss metaphysical or sociological topics though they don��t grasp the gist of the problems yet profess a considerable understanding on various occasions. I played the role of Goldberg in Pinter��s drama Birthday Party last semester and this line symbolizes the ultimate meaningless discussion to me: ��Chicken? Egg? Which came first? Which came first?��.

The other aspect of affected communication is that we don��t say the things we mean.

Is it due to shyness that we, or at least I, find it so awkward to say ��love��, let lone to say it in Shanghai dialect? I have never said ��I love you�� to my parents, my grandmother and other relatives though there is no doubt about it. Am I still so shy to those who have known me for so long? I know such is the case with many people. For friendship and love (in the narrow sense), speech is ineffective, too. Shyness is one cause and the instinct of self-preservation is the other. How can you say everything to someone who is formerly a total stranger? Will you be understood or believed at all? Will you find it a great disappointment or disgrace when you realize that you have overpaid your feelings? Will your importance be downplayed as a result of thorough confession? Merely to let the feelings out, we dare not to lose something, tangible or intangible. So we just go on with a veil all over ourselves. Human relationship is subtle, more than talk can handle.

Talk is futile to a large degree. Maybe we shouldn��t have wasted this unique gift. Or perhaps the gift is not something so precious and useful at all. Therefore it would not be too much a pity for the animals that they cannot talk like we do.

Even if they can, what do you expect an animal, say, a pet dog, to talk to you? ��Give me some more bones��, ��Your look cool today��, ��It��s been raining for days�� or ��I love you, my master��? Animals are cute or fierce without the supplement of speech. A huge yellow bull can look at you with appealing and beautiful eyes. Monkeys will glance at you abstractly and then begin to shell skillfully the peanuts in their little hairy hands, which resembles old little ugly men astonishingly. Birds with banana-like beaks shout loudly and proudly, as if they are still in the South-American forests. Aren��t these nice enough? Anyway, I don��t want the 2-meter-tall scary gorilla to turn around and say to me, ��Get lost!��.

Animals should not talk, since talk is not only inadequate but also a cause of confusion and pretension. If animals cannot communicate more genuinely than human beings, it is better that they remain the way they are. Much of our talk has been sheer noise and we need no more. ��If only they could talk�� is by no means my wish.

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