We took a vacation recently and along with a bit of a sun tan, a couple of extra pounds and a few souvenirs, I brought home something to write about which is always nice.
Have you ever noticed when you look out a window and see a bird, you can tell what kind of a bird it is by its appearance? Chickadees look like chickadees, robins look like robins, eagles look like eagles. And not in a “doppelgänger” sort of way where if you use your imagination you can see the resemblance. No. Birds of a feather look pretty much like other birds of that same feather.
And it’s not just birds. Deer also look alike. Sets of antlers vary from buck to buck but by and large as you drive down a country road and see them browsing in the distance, deer look like deer and there’s no mistaking their physiques, their big white tails, their general appearances. So too, foxes, raccoons, opossums and so on.
Domesticated animals are kind of the exception. When you see a dog or cat wandering the neighborhood you know what it is, but, thanks to them looking different from animal to animal, you can often figure out whose family is missing their pet.
Dogs and cats vary greatly from pet to pet with the exception of breeds. There’s no mistaking that our family dog is a golden retriever, but within that breed no two look exactly alike. Mixed breed dogs and cats, while individually distinguishable, still come across as “dogs” and “cats.”
Hopefully you had a decent Thanksgiving Day and got your fill of turkey and the fixings. If I told you that I had seen a bunch of turkeys recently most of us can imagine the vision in our mind’s eye. All these frozen birds weighing from 10 to 20 pounds, heads cut off, giblets stuffed inside and that trademark white shrink wrapping held together with a plastic net. At least that’s what I see. Others might picture flocks of big birds covered in feathers, gobblers hanging from chins and moving just quickly enough to avoid the highway traffic.
And then there’s people.
Of all the animals in the animal kingdom, Homo Sapiens is the one with the most appearance “issues.” I remind you that this column was hatched while on vacation. I’ll add that it was generated while sitting around a swimming pool with 100 other swimsuit-clad vacationers. Where animals look pretty similar from one to another, why do people look so different from copy to copy? Skeletally, we are the same; two legs, two arms, 10 fingers and so on. And internally, we are all wired pretty much the same. Even our brains, as much as we like to bicker about it, learn things at about the same rate. But beyond that, we are a strange amalgam of hair colors, skin values, body shapes, and muscle tones.
Given how different we look, particularly in swimwear, it’s no secret that the clothing industry on earth booms. Given the effects that sedentary lifestyles, buffet tables, and gravity have on the human body it is no wonder the investments we make in textiles to cover all that up. In no way am I body shaming anyone here. Again, these observations are the result of a week’s worth of people-watching while getting my money’s worth of an overpriced resort drink package.
So enjoy the holidays to the fullest. Eat, drink, be merry and remember that the only thing that separates us from the other animals is often simply our ability to accessorize.