Monkey People in My Trunk

 
Dishing the inside dirt on convent life was a lot more interesting to readers than the daily fare of my life.  Dirt sells, especially at the check out line and on TV.   It's too bad we don't spend more time with our minds on loftier things and looking for the goodness in others.  Is it really how we are wired or are we products of an environment manipulated by the media and business?  I tend to lean toward the latter explanation but I'm afraid there is probably also a natural tendency to be drawn toward the flaws in others.  I bet it has something to do with survival skills and our primitive beginnings.  We're not very far from our primate cousins.  We are  "monkey people". 

(I'm no expert on evolutionary theory.  If you're a creationist, please don't be offended.  I just happen to favor the evolutionary theory.  I see too many "monkey people" every day and I think that God is clever enough to use evolution as a mechanism of creation.  You are free to believe otherwise.  Sometimes following your heart is more important than being right or wrong.  I respect the free will concept and the right to believe what one chooses.)

If you have any doubts, check out the play structure at your local park or within one of the fast food chains pandering to exhausted parents who need a break and bring their children out to eat and swing and yell among the plastic "vines and branches".  When our children were small, my husband and I both often sought refuge for our sanity within the plastic jungle.  I knew if I took my children out in public, I was going to be on my best behavior and stop feeling the need to nip and snarl at them.   For my husband, this dynamic didn't appear.   Ever the alpha male, he'll put his little chimps in place whether he is in public or not.  As the less dominate of the pairing, I tend to use cleverness to insure my place within the tribe.  I'm all about the strategy.  He's more about the thumping on the chest.  Got to love that crazy testosterone.

Humans often behave in divine ways.  The art and beauty that can spring from the human mind gives testament to the beauty of the soul and for me evidence for its existence.  Personally, I'm convinced "my soul has touched the face of God."  I doubt my dog can make a similar claim but since telepathy is not part of my unique skills set, I'll never really know.  Unless, of course, I can use my Vulcan nature to achieve some kind of doggy mind meld.

But back to the "monkey people" concept. . . all I have to do is be awake in traffic to see the animal come out.  It's as if all the "trunk monkey's in the world have taken the wheel.

Acknowledging our "animal side" doesn't seem like a bad thing.  We get in to trouble when we forget and assume we aren't  driven by some pretty basic instincts.  By acknowledging our " inner monkey" we might be better able to keep it in check, or at least in the trunk.