An elephant and a rhino

I read an interesting article in the waiting room of my wife’s doctor office a while back about a lady that rescued and rehabilitated elephants and rhinos. I do use a smart phone as a personal babysitter now, but sometimes it’s still fun to read a genuine, old fashioned magazine article. I don’t consider myself an overly sentimental person about things like this, but I have been known to pick up the handset of my in-laws wall mounted rotary dial telephone and just listen to the dial tone; it kind of makes me feel like a time traveler.

But back to what I really wanted to talk about; the magazine article. I don’t remember the lady’s name, but the things she has been able to do with wild animals was nothing short of amazing. The focus was mainly on elephants and honestly I think this has more to do with public sentiment than intelligence. Have you heard anyone say “he has a memory like a rhino”? I haven’t, but I have heard some item deemed rhino tough. Two similar animals perceived in two very different ways. For reasons unknown elephants are often thought of as both cuddly and romantic. I can’t imagine Water For Rhinos ever being the literary success that Water for Elephants turned out to be.

So why did the section about rhinos interest me so? Was it due to the gravity of her finding common ground with such an aggressive and unnatural beast? For the most part I think so. I think we all tend to romanticize the notion that certain animals have the ability for human thoughts and emotions and others don’t. These tend to be the animals we love the most because we see them as more like us, but not us like them.  I know that I would rather have a dog for a pet than say, a badger! I would choose the dog simply because we would better understand one another from the beginning. We would be able to reach certain agreements and even learn snippets of one another’s language. Let’s just say that it would be easier for us to be friends and that is the path I would choose.

When you take out the animals and think about this scenario in the larger picture of human relations, the same parallels apply. We often blur the lines between friendship, understanding and tolerance and consider them one in the same. You remember the old test you failed when you were accused of being a racist? The one where, in the middle of defending your record on racism, you were asked “well, have you ever had a (insert minority here until you get a winner) eat dinner at your house”? And your answer was “no I haven’t, and your mother has never eaten with me either. And while I understand she is a bitch, I swear I have nothing against her!” I say this to illustrate one point; no matter how tolerate you consider yourself everyone will not pass your personal friends test. They don’t need to and shouldn’t have to.

So instead of wondering if someone will pass your friends test, you might want to consider whether or not you are passing the tolerance test. We don’t all have to be friends to simply get along and treat one another with respect. We don't have to party together after work, like the same music or eat the same foods; this is friendship, not understanding. But you never know, that person you perceive as a rhino might be an elephant after all.