What Makes us Human
It recently occurred to me: What unites us most as humans, is that we read in the bathroom.
I’ll explain:
I was watching our cat, Seamus, go to the bathroom the other day (His litter box is in our bathroom and we were going together).
Watching and pondering as one may do in that intimate space, it hit me: Seamus does not read in the bathroom.
Now I know what your thinking: He does read in the bathroom, just not in front of me.
But I have never seen any magazines- “Life as a Pet,” “Jerusalem Cat,” or “MouseHunter,”- or how-to books like “How to get the most out of your master” or “Who Says they’re the Owners” left beside Seamus’s litter box. So if he does read, he never leaves any evidence behind.
Others might argue that what makes us human is language or making tools. But other animals do that stuff. As far as I know, though, we are the only species to look for entertainment during our performance of such a basic bodily need.
It is amazing how badly we want to utilize every second of the day- to make the best of a few quiet minutes. We’re so determined to use this time in the bathroom to acquire knowledge, extra factoids, to be entertained. We’re a species with a real distaste for wasted time.
I know that when I am hard at work, I am very excited to go to the bathroom. In the bathroom, I have completed numerous non-fiction works, handfulls of issues of Backpacker Magazine and more. Sometimes, I find myself drinking coffee not to wake up, but to ensure that I am granted that hearty five minutes of quality reading time.
I remember when we were in the backcountry of the Pacific Crest Trail, spending three months in the wilderness and relieving ourselves outside everyday, that I would get very excited for those nights we’d spend in town, when I could go to the bathroom and read.
Perhaps we even say, “Go to the bathroom,” because we’re invested in the whole experience of the bathroom- the excretory one and the library one.
I guess it is a bit disturbing that we can’t just be happy with letting our body do its thing. Maybe we’re not just a species with a distaste for wasted time- maybe we have a distaste for quiet time by ourselves. In theory, I should really be okay without being entertained for a few minutes. Seamus, after all, is perfectly happy to go and be done with it.
I think it would be a healthy exercise for me, every once in a while, to go to the bathroom, and just “be.” Maybe I’ll meditate upon my body’s awareness of how to take care of itself. There’s definitely what to be said about savoring everything we do, even at the expense of accomplishing more.
In any case, I think we’re cool. Cool and interesting. Probably pretty funny to our colleagues in the animal kingdom.
I wonder sometimes what Seamus must think of us and the way we live. Maybe he’s an anthropologist in disguise?
But human anthropologist or just plain cat who thinks we people are a bit off, I am sure that when we leave for work, Seamus gets right up here to the computer, and writes for his award-winning blog for house pets, “The Oddities of my Human Roommates.”
Did you enjoy this post? Subscribe via RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
May 17th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
What a funny post!
I sometimes find myself reading shampoo bottles when there is nothing else to read in the bathroom. My mother has also had to threaten to take away the magazines in the bathroom if I don’t hurry up. I’ll have to try not reading sometime.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Shavua to everybody.First of all it is defently a good point this whole cat’s poit of view post,and i i’l share a thought wich just came to me after a special shabat.
So there were a lot about Shmita in the weeks portion (who has no idea what i’m talking about can write me on my e-mail) and there’s a thing (in comentaries and just in there in the psukim) about relationship between the man and the nature.
On the one hand the jewish man gets kind of beyond nature by stoping working the land for a whole year and beliving that G-d will provide him enough food for 3years from crops of only 1 year.
But on the other hand the whole shabbat and shmita thing is kind of a coming back to the basic nature.Cause we can see the mans activity in the world as changing and interacting with nature for good and for bad anlike the rest of creatures .and on shmita we are more like the animals go to the field and just TAKE what’s there.
I’m not gonna det into the whole issue of holiness of shmita and shabbes. just wanna say that the man is developing all the time in his man’s beyod the nature activity and his wold becomes more and more requiring because of this development. and it is “natural” and legetimate for us to feel need in non stop upgrade and getting stuff done.But we defently need the little shmitot and shabbatot in our every day life,cause maybe the our new “requiring nature” requires more of this holy coming back to the right deep G-d’s nature in order not to get farer and farer from it evn though we have shabat every week.
Lot’s of love7peace from Jerusalem.