More Human Than Human Pt. 1 (Humans and Animals)

What is it that makes people "human"?

When asked, sadly, many humans are hard pressed to give a definitive answer. To answer that question would also be to ask the following questions. What makes an animal an animal...and what makes a machine a machine.

Many people have cited religious quests or have reached emotional conclusion when, from the looks of things, cannot be used to truly tell what is and what is not human.Religion for example. Some believe religion is some sort of mass hysteria, a mental illness of sorts which we, as humans, have cooked up to make us feel better or to provide moral boundaries for us to live by. Arguably, a large majority of the world does believe in religion in one incantation or another whether it be Christianity, Muslim, Hindu or whichever other religion you can think of. Is it possible that that many people have voluntarily opened themselves up to mental illness? Many religious leaders and believers would take my words as a slight towards organized religion, however I think they, even with all their followers and beliefs must agree that even the mentally ill have shown signs of delusion when it come to insanity. Visions of Jesus Christ and even people who believe they have spoken to God directly all litter the landscape of the world. The thought that one all mighty entity rules over the entire universe and for some reason of all the trillions of possible planets out there chose Earth as his religious sanctuary seems incredibly far fetched. To this day, no one has been able to offer a viable scientific explanation to that question. If there is a human element to this point of view, it is that we are all flawed and can and will become ill either physically, mentally, or both.

The human emotional experience has been defined, by some, as the ability to attach an emotional response to a given action. For example, a person dies therefore you may cry or in some severe cases, feel physical pain. Perhaps a certain event that has been looked forward to arrives, therefore eliciting a joyful response or a sense of excitement. Both are considered to be a human response. However, it is not unheard of to see this emotion from an animal. Example, a dog owner returns home from work, the dog in turn becomes excited since his master has returned to him. Although some define that as a human emotional response, the dog clearly shares excitement with his human counterpart. Does this example make us less human or more animal? Does it make the dog less animal and more human? Comparatively, humans have in many cases exhibited many physical and emotional reponses that can be seen as animal. Would a man living in the forest be called an animal for killing a deer and eating it to survive? In most cases no because he would in all likelihood be doing it only out of necessity. The same can be said of a coyote or wild dog or any other predatory animal.

The only reason they kill, in most cases, is to survive. Some may argue that there have in fact been times where a human was killed by a wild animal for means other than that noted for a human killing an animal. Based on scientific studies of animal and human behavior, it is not too far fetched to believe that a human wandering into the territory of a pack of wolves may be targeted and killed. This example can be be compared to that of a wild animal, for example a bobcat, getting into a house with people in it and the homeowner shooting and killing the animal. Why, in both cases, did something or someone die? Territory. The bobcat was seen as a threat although it may have had no intention of attacking a human, but since the cat was unexpectedly present, the human shot and killed it. Same can be said of the wolves attacking and killing a human walking through their territory. The human, by their judgment, had no right to be there and was viewed as a threat, even though the human most likely was simply passing through. Based on these arguments, the line between humans and animals begins to fade as their behavior seems very similar to that of a human.

The supposed lack of human emotion as it pertains to the murder of another human being is, by some, viewed as animalistic. The likeness, however convenient, seems terribly misused as human behavior cannot always be seen as righteous. The killing of another for materialistic things such as money and possessions is all too human. A terrific example may be seen as war between countries and groups of people. War, by all accounts, generally begins when one group of people, for some reason decide to either cause harm to another group or take what that group feels is rightfully theirs. The disagreement escalates and a conflict is born as the two factions fight for what they feel is right. The same can be said of animals, albeit on a smaller scale. One pack of wolves may try to expand their territory into that of another packs. Fighting begins and lives are lost as the two groups of animals compete for dominance of the land. Again, another issue which is referred to as animal can now be seen as more human than anything else. One fact that offers circumstance is the reason behind the war. Wolves, by all accounts, will only do such things as a means to survive. The food in a certain location becomes scarce, therefore the pack moves to where the food is and in some cases this new location overruns that of an already existing pack. Given the territoriality of both packs, war may be inevitable.

It can be argued that humans do the same thing; taking over a certain area of land or resource as a means of survival. While that argument may sometimes hold water, in the last 200 years there are several examples of people not taking over or attacking other countries out of necessity, but simply because they choose to. Take Nazi Germany for example. History has shown that Germany did not have to oppress the Jewish community, yet they killed millions of them; not to take over a country or a resource, but simply because they chose to. Nazi sympathizers say that the Jews were the reason for Germany's defeat in World War I. Others say that religion came into play and the largely Christian country did not wish to have Jews rule their land and economy. Nowhere in history can the same be said for animals. Killing simply to kill rarely, if ever, happens in nature. Neither does killing over a religious belief.

(TBC)

The Terminator

Not exactly stuck, but trying to figure which direction to take the story. I wanted the characters to explore and build their friendship more, however there are a few different directions I have built into chapter five. It's so weird for me to be in such a position. You hear about writers getting a block, but it seems like I have too many options. I wanted to eventually touch on each one, but I have to make a choice of whether to jump right into dramatics or develop my 2nd main character more. Guess I will figure it out soon enough.

 

Chapter 5

In a marathon night, I completed the very difficult chapter 5. The only bad thing about it is that I know I will have to revisit it. It's pretty dark and thick as I mentioned before. It's still rough, but very solid and fills in a lot of holes that had come up in the story concerning the protagonists past. Now that that is finally over, I can sleep...and start tomorrow on chapter 6 which should be fun. Not sure where I am going to take the characters, but thats the fun of writing sometimes...just going with where your mind takes you while writing on the fly. With the time I am making on these chapters, I may be done with this thing before Christmas! Maybe I should make it available on the Kindle. That'd be funny.

Chapter 4

Done. I think I did this one in record time. The sheer amount of dialog i used in this chapter is amazing even to me. The next few chapters should be very similar...with the aexception of Chapter 5. Five will show a very different writing style. To be honest, I was not looking forward to writing this chapter because of the dark content involved, but it's very important for the development of the story.

When I write, I tend to get emotionally invested and the thought of exploring such a dark topic makes me uneasy. I can't really say what makes it so dark, but I will offer this. The character's past isn't easy to swallow and some people may even find it a bit unbelievable, but I assure you it can and has happened. Let me say once again that this is indeed a work of fiction, however the elements are for the most part real.

Sleep

Think I am getting over this illness. Temp is back to 97.6 (Which is normal for me so don't say 'Ha! that's not normal!') I just feel exhausted now. I must have woken up like 20 times last night. That's the major problem with having a damn cold. Can never get breathing under control long enough to stay asleep for a decent period of time. The nieces are here today so i doubt I will get any rest. All I can do is take it easy and hope the fever doesn't come back.

 

Chapter 3

Is in the books!...or book I should say. Successfully introduced the 2nd main character and once I was able to get them both conversing, the words seemed to just flow out. This chapter was pretty joyfully to write as I was able to finally get to the meat of the story. now I just need some one from the UK to tell me "bollocks" means...and I am sure I spelled that wrong. Any UK person who can tell me what that means will have my gratitude and if they like, I can in turn tell them what "fo shizzle my nizzle on the rizzle skizzle" means.

Thirsty

I've caught something and its setting in as I type. I felt a little odd last night, but today just in the last few hours its really hitting me. Hoping it's just a cold, but I am starting to get body aches so it may be the flu. I am a bit worried. It's very rare that I get the flu or colds. I've gotten the flu maybe twice in my life and had maybe 4 colds. However, when I do get sick, it's usually pretty severe. In most cases I end up bed-ridden for several days. I don't feel thirsty in the slightest yet, I can feel myself getting dehydrated so I am forcing down liquids. My face is beginning to burn and the fever keeps coming and going. Definitely a virus as I haven't really spiked a fever...more like it just swings in and out. Bacterial, I'd be at like 103-104 which sadly I have experienced and thats not fun either.

 

I just wish my nose would stop running. I cannot stop sneezing. Damn, this really sucks! I want to eat, but have no appetite. Looks like I am gonna lose 10lbs over the weekend.