The train of my previous blog switched tracks but continued on its journey so I thought I'd invite you along.
Even as a child, I was fascinated by the forested mountains surrounding my hometown. I was never afraid in the woods. Occasionally spooked by an unidentified sound? Certainly. Cautious? Absolutely. Respectful? Definitely. Lost? Several times. But afraid? Not once.
Life in the forest makes sense. All natural things do. Admittedly, humans sometimes need to study a natural phenomenon for a very long time before we finally "get it". Once we do, though, it makes sense. Always. So much so, in fact, that sometimes we're left wondering why it took us so long to figure it out. I'm beginning to think the reason might be that humans are more aberration than natural.
Think about it for a little while. For inspiration, go back to my beloved forest and my statement about never having been afraid there.
Let's say you're hiking and you come across a bear with young cubs. Admittedly, you're potentially in a world of trouble. But the threat to you for being in the wrong place at the wrong time is rational. Every time I'd choose the danger of facing a protective mother who's bigger, stronger, and equipped with huge claws and sharp teeth over the danger of walking in on an armed junkie robbing a convenience store. I may well die in either situation but, if I do, at least I know what I've done "wrong" with the bear. If it's all the same to you, I'd prefer to die because a mother incorrectly assessed me as a threat to the well-being of her offspring than to die because an insane person decided to take by force what he hadn't earned and didn't care for the possibility of leaving behind a potential witness.
Yes, I suppose you could argue that the armed junkie was behaving naturally. A skilled devil's advocate might present him as a predator in taking what he hadn't earned and say that he was protecting himself in shooting me to avoid identification later. Said advocate could, therefore, score points by twisting the hypothetical situation into some semblance of the natural world. I'd counter, though, that his reason for taking what he hadn't earned was not at all natural. Unless inflicted on it by man (and excepting man), you'd find it difficult to locate an animal addict. And a natural predator wouldn't take something to be bartered for something else. It would take food or shelter or a weapon; something it needed immediately for survival.
Another example: If I step on a copperhead during a hike, it's not going to be pleasant for me. Again, I'd far prefer to suffer the physical harm caused by a poisonous bite to that of being grabbed from behind and dragged into a darkened alley. Again, the snake is behaving in a completely rational manner whereas the rapist is another insane person intent on forcing sex on me for the purpose of torture, control or humiliation. That never happens in the natural world, either. And don't get me started on pedophilia!
I can think of many more examples of "natural" danger as opposed to the danger posed by man but I'm going to stop here because in every single example, I'd prefer to face the "natural". Others may disagree but I'm always going to feel safer as the sole human in the middle of even a completely unfamiliar forest than I am in the middle of a well-known city. The natural makes sense. While I have hope for the potential of the aberration, I sometimes despair at its insanity. I'm reminded of a line from the 1991 movie Last of the Mohicans in which Hawkeye recounts to Cora that his adoptive father once told him the white man was "a breed apart and makes no sense." I would say that was equally true of all humans.
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