The Animal Within
Humans are capable of extraordinary things. We love. We create. We build. We care for strangers. We make art, music and science… And yet, we fight. We hate. We destroy. We lie. We hurt each other. We draw borders, start wars and find new ways to justify cruelty.
Sometimes it’s difficult to understand the world we have created. I used to say that we are not so far removed from slightly cleverer monkeys. Looking at the world today, it’s easy to see the animal in us.
It reminds me of the fantastic book Life of Pi, and I think that maybe we all carry a Richard Parker within us. And somehow, that helps me forgive us for that contradiction. That balance between human and animal that can make us capable of the greatest things, but also the most unforgivable ones. Maybe it’s not so easy to separate the two.
So I hope, I truly hope, that we can do better. Even carrying the animal within us.