Of Our Thoughts, Cats, Cobras and Chopsticks

We think because we can. We all do. But what about the other living organisms? Elephants, lions, wolves, hyenas; they must, don't they?  Closest relatives to us - gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, what about them?

Cats.  They spend a lot of time napping and often when they're awake, they can be seen motionless staring at something, or are they pondering? Here is one of their favorites.  More like a ponderous daydream for a cat.

"A German shepherd, a Doberman and a cat die and go to heaven.  They are greeted by God, who asks each of them what they believe in.  The German shepherd goes first. 'Discipline, training and loyalty to my master', he says.  Good, you may sit on my right.  Now, Doberman, what do you believe in?' The Doberman answers, 'Love, care and protect my master'. 'Excellent', says God. 'You may sit on my left.  Now, cat, it's your turn. What do you believe in?'

The cat replies, 'I believe you are sitting in my seat'."

        --- This was submitted by Merry Pruitt of Columbus, OH (to a nationally syndicated magazine) 

A regular cobra pondered this.  It is wondering why a close relative - a spitting cobra - would resort to spitting its venom when it is prone to spray  wildly, especially on a breezy day.  Why not just sink its fangs and deliver the venom like all self-respecting cobras do?  But  the regular cobra's greatest peeve is why a rattle snake would make such a racket if it has every intention to strike. 

California condors had been waiting for sometime, having spent countless hours looking for carrion or for some other creature to die.  One thought loudly for everyone at the condo to hear, "I can't stand all this waiting. I think I will have to kill something." {Wait, a condo refers to a group of condors in general; for California, it should be a scarcity of California condors; the proper grouping of them.  By the way, a group of crows are called a murder of crows. I wonder what those poor black birds think about that}

So, yes, our animal friends do think and they ponder.

But we are the best thinkers.  We could be the worst too but we will skip those in this musing.

Whoever thought of spoons and forks deserves a lot of credit.  What could be better than that?  I mean, that's about as close as we can get to what directly affects the very idea of existence.  If we must eat to live, to continue to exist, we might as well come up with the best apparatus for consuming food.

"Now, wait, wait, just a minute!", I just heard a loud protest from almost two billion people. Oh, yes, indeed, how can we ignore them and the chopstick?

From China of about 1.4 billion folks, to Vietnam to Thailand to Japan and several other countries in between, the protest can be hugely in favor of the chopstick.

Of course, there are still places where eating with one's fingers are acceptable norms either out of necessity or as dictated by traditional culture.  And, while spoon and fork etiquette is commonplace, there was a time when chopstick etiquette was strictly prescribed and adhered to both in China and Japan.

The evolution of human thought can be traced along many paths in our development except for one inexplicable phenomenon set by the use of eating utensils.  You see, spoons and forks typically require the use of both hands, although one hand may do so by simply using either spoon or fork; on the other hand (no pun intended), chopsticks that come in pairs require using one and only one hand. But the latter requires the dexterity of a violinist's one hand (the one that is on the fingerboard).  Handling or gripping the chopsticks have their own peculiar differences now classified by convention.  Counterclockwise from the top left, they are known as the (1) Vulcan; (2) Chicken claws; (3) Dangling stick; (4) Scissorhands 

 

Chopsticks therefore allow eating with one hand.  But what about when soup is on the menu? A European might ask.  The direct mouth to bowl, or bowl to mouth is not only allowed, it is highly recommended.  A steaming bowl stimulates three senses at once - the sense of smell from a steaming aroma, taste and the warmth or heat of a bowl of soup that enhances the slurping experience. Slurping is by the way not frowned upon for it is an indicator of approval because bad tasting food will not garner that kind of enthusiasm, a cultural truism in parts of the world.

As an homage to Chopsticks, a few years back I actually did a woodworking project by making my own with a stand. 

I use it sparingly but practiced a lot to where I can pick up a single green pea with ease.  Chopsticks make a good exercise for dexterity and hand eye coordination.

Now, we must not forget that eating utensils must have come only after we started cooking our food. We owe it all to the first moment when our ancestors first discovered to make fire at will. Kudos among our first ancestors for thinking about cooking the first ever food.  Would you know it was by accident?  At least according to a story I concocted seven years ago (12/07/2016, "Of Mice and Lo Mein", my apologies to John Steinbeck).

"..So when Grog and his tribe were dining mainly on raw meat, leaves and berries, their average IQs for millions of years remained at barely above cave temperature until one day Grog came upon an aurochs (believed the ancestor of the modern cattle) that was struck by lightning.  It was still smoldering where a nearby bush was still burning. Grog stumbled upon the very first barbecue and warmth from fire, soon followed by an exponential growth in brain size and power (better nutrition?).  The rest is history.  I wasn’t there when it happened but an idle mind is awash with speculative imagination unfettered by evidence or fossil fragments".

A hundred thousand years or so later homo sapiens came up with the first eating utensils to deal with hot food items.

I had meant for this musing to have the title as in the first sentence above, "We Think Because We can", and make it a philosophical discussion.  But after the cat in heaven story, things fell apart that caused the original train of thought to go off the tracks - totally derailed!). But, hey, I got you to think about a thing or two, didn't I?  So, if indeed this made you think then it is because you can.