When Instincts Go Awry

A TWO MINUTE READ

Many years ago, when I lived on the border between Wyoming and Montana, I visited a friend. As we walked along a stream that ran through a majestic mountain pass, we came across a half-rotted elk carcass. My friend begrudgingly explained how she would have to keep her two golden retrievers chained up outside for weeks, because they had rolled in that same carcass a couple days ago, and there was no washing the stink away.

Photo courtesy - “I. Stock

She explained how, even though her dogs were well fed at home, they took every opportunity available to cover up their scent. All as a pretext for sneaking up on their next meal. According to multiple sources, humans have been domesticating dogs for somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 years. But her pets still hadn’t given up that instinct, in spite of the high cost paid. They, like so many of their counterparts, became dejected family members for weeks at a time.

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Fast forward - to two days ago. I had plans to get a truckload of horse manure and offered to share part of it with my neighbor, a gardener. She was grateful for my offer but declined saying, “it would be way too tempting for my dogs.” As I relayed to her my Montana friend’s experience, I found myself drawing parallels with the newest war in the Middle East.

My understanding of their very complex history is that the Jews and Muslims have been trading the roles of aggressor and victim ever since roughly 627 A.D., when a Jewish tribe allegedly broke a treaty with Muhammad. There are those who love to dig into the past, dwelling on - who was entitled to the land thousands of years ago, or the specific origins of the first stone thrown.

The bottom line for me is - every time one of these enemies attacks the other, the response is always the same - more intense and protracted violence against the aggressor. In this case however, the cost isn’t just to be shunned for a couple of weeks - like my friend’s dogs.