Central Park Squirrels

I spend last Saturday morning in one of my favorite places in this whole world, Central Park. I always enjoy walking through the park because I always get something out of it. Sometimes I get great pictures, sometimes it's great people watching, sometimes it's a great New York hot dog. This time, I saw some fascinating people, ate a great hot dog, and learned something about squirrels.

The Central Park Squirrels have been conditioned to put up with, even seek out our genus because they trust in our beneficence, but even more in our constant supply of food. Their pause in our presence is no longer a result of fear, but of contemplation, is this person worthy of my presence? Do they have enough food to make this exchange worth my time?

This sizing up is not so unlike us in the way we treat each other. Animals we treat with equal openness or closed-mindedness. And for the most part the animals do the same, treating all humans with equal suspicion. But this discriminating aspect of human nature, this is what we've passed on to the Central Park squirrels. The squirrels are certainly less guilty for their judgments than we, their's comes from natural survival instincts, a search for food. We however, are guilty of shallow, hurtful discriminations.

Thankfully, I was apparently judged as one who is worthy although I prefer not to think about the factors that lead them to believe I had food to spare.