Comparison

Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?

I try not to compare myself to others, which is hard enough with people who are often all glamorous and amazing. Doesn’t it seem equally silly to compare myself to a cheetah? Or a lion? I’m not those people and I am no cheetah.

There was a bit of prose by Glenon Doyal I recall reading. It was about a moment at their local zoo. She had taken her daughters to watch a rare event which involved a cheeetah and a dog running, and chasing a tattered toy on a wire. It was a spectacle for the crowd to see how fast a cheetah could run. Every part was contrived and unnatural. One of her daughters pointed out how the cheetah’s mood changed once the event was over.Apparently there was a dramatic switch from performer back to wild animal.

Glenon says that some animals can not be domesticated. No matter how or where they live, they remain wild in their hearts. Somehow when I read this, and I don’t think I was the only one, I felt a kinship with the cheetah. I too in my own way, am a little wild. Domestication never stuck, I run through my life, waiting for those moments of wildness because in those moments, I’m me.

There are no words for the freedom of my wandering mind. For a lack of protocol. For the bliss of chaos, for my own messiness of creation. I know the importance of domestication, I celebrate civility and refinement. It’s not about one or the other, for me it’s about balance, but there is a lot of wildness still in my heart. I like knowing that it’s not possible, like the zoo cheetah for it to be trained or domesticated out.

Wild is what I will remain, no matter where I am or what I do.