Independence and
Freedom are virtues that we all cherish. The goriest wars in history were only waged
to preserve these values. In fact they are the cornerstones of modern-day
lifestyles. And I am quite sure that you wouldn't have failed to notice a
difference between cats and dogs in this respect.
Dogs have
masters while Cats have servants. The dogs famous for their loyalty and
selflessness are actually the ones who lack any kind of freedom or independence.
They have their own fixed time to go out or to sleep, fixed meal, fixed bed
everything of which is decided by the master. While on the other hand, Cats
would eat when they want, sleep when and where they want, go out when they want
and simply they don’t care what their master ‘staff’ tells them.
But why
is this difference? What is the origin of this difference?
It’s quite
simple actually: Cats don’t trust anybody, not even their owners. Dogs have a
strong faith that whatever their masters tell them is for their own good while
Cats decide it for themselves. They don’t trust in others’ predicaments. And if
you look closely, the nature’s best survivors are those who don’t trust
anybody. Take the example of a crow. If you feed birds regularly most of them
would not be alarmed by your close proximity but that’s not the case with a
crow. It will either attack or flee, if it senses any unusual movements or
proximity.
So why is lack
of trust so important to independence and survival?
Again its quite
simple, when you trust someone to do something, you are actually relieving your
responsibilities; you are being dependent on him which obviously takes away the
complete independence. And by not fulfilling your responsibilities yourself,
you are missing an opportunity to perfect yourself and giving it to someone
else. And going with Natural Selection, the more perfect you are, the more
ensured your survival is. And frankly speaking, our society is a vicious cycle
of trust! No one can fulfill their responsibilities on their own; no one can
survive on their own.
But the truly dismaying
question is: What is trust? How can we define trust?
Science, as we
know, is the most reliable form of knowledge and its reliability is because of
its testability. But can we know how reliable a person is? Science emphasizes on relying on any kind of knowledge only after it is proved. But then trust is,
by definition, meaningless. Then how
come we built a whole new system, so unlike from what nature gave us, from something
as hollow and obsolete as trust?
The questions,
the answers, the ways of life and the ways of thinking are all being contradictory
to each other and still each one of them can be true all the time and we cannot
do anything else but being helpless.
But I don’t want
to be just helpless, so I ask you Who do you want to be: a Dog or a Cat?
--- Sarath Warrier---
