Of Wolf and Man Having been lucky enough to spend a fair amount of time with wolves these last few years, I've been able to observe in some detail their behaviours, and, in doing so, have come to an interesting conclusion about the way humans in general view wolves with respect to humanity as a whole. Now I feel I can understand how, throughout history, wolves have been viewed with suspicion and hatred. The wolf has a problem - and that is that he is, in many respects, too human. Mankind has recognised (whether consciously or not) the similarities between the wolf and himself, and this leads man to a feeling of insecurity - it threatens man's self- appointed position as a supposedly 'superior' being for him to realise that there are other creatures on this planet with whom he has a great deal in common. What do I mean? Well, I'll list a few similarities for you. Pride, spite, devotion, love, arrogance, vanity, sloth, deceit, envy, charm? Human attributes, you may think - but i've seen wolves exhibit the lot, and then some. A good example of this is shown by the Alpha male of the pack, and he knows it. On first meeting anyone, even someone he has known for ages, he will go through the usual "Alpha act" - growling, hackles raised, tail-waving - for about fifteen seconds. This is what's expected of him after all. After that, it's more a case of tail-down, up against the mesh of the enclosure, and turn-on-the-charm-in-order-to- get-a-back-scritch. He's an accomplished actor, and a vain one with it - his whole attitude - the way he stands or walks - changes if he knows he's being watched. Proud? yes; Arrogant? Sure! Manipulative? Of course! He'll play to the audience every time, and get one hell of a kick out of it! But enough of listing each of the Seven Deadly Sins, and attributing these characteristics to the wolves; to concentrate on that would be missing the point... there's much more to it than that. Each wolf has his or her own distinct personality; and with it their own separate attitudes, friends, likes and dislikes. Yes, I used the word 'PERSONality' here intentionally, because, in recognising their individuality I do indeed view them as people - people who, admittedly, are of measurelessly different form to human-people, but they are no lesser people for being so. And, in acknowledging this, I can see why humans could so easily have come to fear wolves. Wolves are just too much like humans - recognising aspects of yourself in other creatures could so easily lead early man down the path of suspicion and mistrust (as equally it could have led to feelings of brotherhood and affection). Sadly for the wolf, in most societies it was the former path that took precedence over the latter. Equally, recognising aspects of other creatures in yourself must have been - and still is - a potentially frightening discovery for humans, breaking, as it does, the traditionally promoted rule that "humans and animals are different". To acknowledge your shared animal aspects would, in most societies, lead to at best ostracism or ridicule, and, at worst, death. The more time I spend with the wolves, the more I come to appreciate them for the beauty of their individual personas, and for the way they do what they do with a simple, raw passion, unburdened by the stresses and pressures us humans have to contend with. The wolves don't worry about sin or their duty to god, or what they can do to make the world a better place; neither do they fret about whether they will be remembered, nor do they show any understanding of the inevitability of their own deaths: they just go on with their lives in their own uniquely Lupine way. And for this I envy them, I really do. Long may they flourish in their own unique individuality, and long may we may learn from them. |