My Word's Worth: a weekly column by Marylaine Block

vol. 5, #9, September 13, 1999

LOCO MOTION?

You'd kill yourself for recognition
kill yourself to
never
ever
stop

Radiohead

When I was reading a collection of Natalie Angier's essays, The Beauty of the Beastly, I was struck by her contention that laziness is "perfectly natural, perfectly sensible, and is shared by nearly every other species on the planet." Most animals, she says, spend most of their time sleeping, resting, digesting, staring at the clouds or nothing at all.

Except human beings, that is. We, she says, spend four times as much of our time working. We're the ones who fret like the white rabbit because "we're late, we're late"; we're the ones who say we must be up and doing; we're the species that works all day and parties all night (some of us, anyway). How very odd.

Most animals know that when they leave their nests and caves they might be eaten. They might expend larger quantities of energy than they can find food to replenish, or might die from extremes of temperature. If they stray too far, they can't protect their nests and their young. The only things worth the risks of moving, in fact, are food, elimination, and sex.

We are probably the only species that expects good things to happen to us when we leave home. After all, when you think about human beings, of all the words that come to mind, "succulent" is not among them. Being near the top of the food chain clearly makes it safer for us to go wandering around in plain sight all day and night.

But we've done other things to make us feel secure in venturing forth. We have not just adapted to our environment, we have altered it to suit us. Where other mammals have to use 80% of their energy just to maintain body temperature, we put on sweaters and long johns and parkas to conserve our body heat. But most of us won't even need those, because we'll go from one warm place to another inside heated cars.

We've also created social structures to make it easier to meet our basic needs. We don't need to spend our days foraging or hunting for food, because we share our labor, buying food other people have raised for us, in exchange for the goods and services we have to offer. Our water comes to us, without any effort on our part, thanks to wells and dams and pipes we've built.

Unlike other species, we aren't governed by the sun and moon. When we want light, we flick a switch, which means that we don't need to huddle together when it's dark (though that can be extremely pleasurable). We have alternatives to sleep -- we can go to ballgames or concerts, work the night shift, boogie til dawn, read or watch TV or surf the net.

We also feel safe because we've driven predators from our towns -- hardly any of us have to deal with hungry bears and lions, though we do have to worry about the more insidious perils caused by insects and vermin. We've also created a shared moral code that discourages people from becoming predators themselves, and built prisons for those who ignore that code..

To an unusual extent we are safe from disease, not so much because of doctors and hospitals, but because we've developed systems to clean our water, refrigerate and cook our food, and remove our wastes safely. We've learned to protect our health with vaccinations, cleanliness, and proper nutrition (easily available to us even if we choose chocolate and big Macs instead).

We expect to be safe because of laws and agencies we've created. We expect buildings not to fall down or burn, because we assume they meet building and fire codes. We assume medications aren't allowed on the market until they've been proven safe and effective . Even when we seek the apparent danger and thrill of extreme amusement park rides, we expect them to be inspected and safe, and are indignant when we are injured.

In fact, we've created a world SO safe that, unlike any other species, we eagerly leave home just to avoid boredom. You can't imagine beavers or hummingbirds sitting around complaining, "Ma, there's nothing to DO." We've created an elaborate entertainment structure of movies, libraries, museums, dance clubs, games, ballparks.

We've even developed industries to supply our need to feel like we're NOT civilized, NOT safe, because the down side of guaranteed safety is losing some personal control, losing the thrill that comes from escaping danger. We can test our skills and courage by climbing mountains or parachuting out of planes. We can go on safaris, raft on white rivers, drive race cars.

We are, as Angier points out, the only species that overrides the instinct to slow down. We give ourselves a jolt of caffeine and keep on rolling (for many of us, the faster the better). We ignore the natural appeal of lying around doing nothing , the sinful sense that we're getting away with something, putting one over on the boss or Martha Stewart or the fitness gurus.

This may have to do with our awareness that we will die. We may or may not be the only species that goes through life knowing that we are temporary, but we're certainly the only ones who are outraged by the knowledge. We do not go gently or willingly into that good night, not even those of us who think we'll get another go-around, in heaven or in a different body. Some of us seem to have an urgent need to pack as much into this life as we can. Maybe all the running is to stay in the same place: here. Alive.

Whatever the reasons, we are an anomaly in a world where every other species knows enough to conserve its precious energy. Think of it -- those teenagers we can't drag out of bed in the morning are the only ones of our kind obeying the laws of nature. Maybe we should let them sleep. Maybe we should even learn from them.

Naaaah.

NOTE: My thinking is always a work in progress. You could mentally insert all my columns in between these two sentences: "This is something I've been thinking about," and "Does this make any sense to you?" I welcome your thoughts. Please send your comments about these columns to: marylaine at netexpress.net. Since I've written a lot of these, some of them many years ago, help me out by telling me which column you're referring to.

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