Monday, April 16, 2018

Who Eats Whom



Starbucks Coffee, West Hollywood

- Do you know her?
- A little. She avoids me.
- What does she have against you? Does she live on the street like the others?
- She does. And I don't know what she has against me. 
- She's very beautiful. 
- She was a model in Paris when she was a teenager. Later, she says, she ran a studio for fashion photography. 
- What happened to her?
- She won't tell me. Says she has issues. 
- What kind of issues?
- Once, I couldn't tell if I heard her right, it sounded  like she'd said things were hard, or that they were against her. She's not friendly with me so I don't know much. What surprises me is that, beautiful as she is, no one helps her, gives her a place to live.
- It is surprising.
- It's our times: even beauty if not associated with money is not attractive.
- Is that her dog?
- Yes. She's left her with me to watch while she goes off to the market to buy her food. I can't tell you much about the beautiful woman...
- So you're going to tell me about her dog?
- About dogs and humans. In our economic system people prey on each other, try to get each other's money; it's not crazy, when living on the street, to have a stronger sense of this happening than others do. Humans originally were herbivores, but have adjusted their diet to eating meat; while dogs originally were carnivores, but living with humans have adjusted their diet to eating grains. Dogs and humans live together, but humans are evolving in the direction of eating dogs, while dogs are evolving away from satisfying their hunger with eating humans. Animals who would prefer to eat animals are living with animals who wouldn't. Won't the animals who'd prefer not to eat animals always live under the threat of being eaten? Why are they not menaced by the situation? 
- Because they love us.
- They do. Maybe we took them into our homes because by their movement away from animals hunting each other they teach us to do likewise? 
- How teach us?
- By their love.

Further Reading:
What's Happening