Lesson of Survival

“Human beings are animals” (George). According to Human and Apes, what sets human animals apart from other animals is our innate ability to adapt to environments. For instance, Asian or Chinese panda bears do not live in the safari with lions, tigers and what not oh my because they cannot easily adapt to that environment. It would take many evolutions for the panda to be suitable for such an environment, but they will likely all go extinct before that evolution takes place. Though adaptive we are, we are still also unfit for animal environments in many ways which is why we usually see humans set up their civilizations on the outskirts of the animal kingdom opposed to living inside of a bear’s cave. Despite our differences, March of the Penguins illustrated what we have in common which is the need for one another for survival.

In the film, I saw how the penguins worked together to get to where they could safely procreate. They walked together and huddled together to keep each other warm. It was self-evident that each survival was in link and dependent upon one another. This was shown when the penguin lagged behind and died because it was on its own. In the simplest unit, I saw the family. It was evident how the child’s survival was based off the parents’ survival. In opposition to the media’s portrayal of human fathers, in March of the Penguins, the mother and father equally sacrificed. If the father died so did the baby if the mom didn’t make it back with food the baby died. They both made the same perilous journey multiple times. Though the penguins were strange to me, I thought of the point George brings up about rather we can accurately say that animals are incapable of abstract thought. I wonder what the penguins were thinking maybe something like “Damn, it’s cold” ot “I wish she would hurry back”. Humans say animals can’t experience complex emotions but whether it was love or lust I saw something quite complex when the male and female mates found each other. Or perhaps their connection was an admission of need; she needed him just as he needed her.

In American society, even though we are so individualistic, our survival is still reliant upon one another.  Our inability to sometimes see our animal-like need for one another demonstrates our loss connection to our human nature. We view each other as means to ends to prevent from admitting that we just need one another. If the inventor of Apple was the only human in his area, his invention would have never left the drawing board or even his head for that matter because there would be no one to have any use for that invention or to help him start the idea. Here survival is dependent upon the capital a person is able to bring in, ignoring our general need for one another instead we focus on the roles that need to be filled. But by who? People! Rather we realize or acknowledge it or not we are key to one another survival. We help each other degenerate the capital we need to be able to survive in this country. In our society, our homeless are the lost penguins. When we allow them to fall behind, they wither away with little to no chance for survival. People spend so much time cooing about how cute animals are, never realizing the lessons they have to offer us. We are not different from animals. We have a different look and a different language and do things a bit differently, but nonetheless we have much to learn from them about survival and conservation. Once we acknowledge the nature within us, we will be able to prosper.