Welcome to Being Animal. This newsletter explores the intricacies of human-animal relationships. Through personal stories, commentary on current events, and thought-provoking debates, I hope to challenge your assumptions and deepen your understanding of how animals are treated in our society. How we treat animals matters— for our own health, for our planet, and for our sense of morality and humanity.
I want to make the world a better place for animals. To do this, we have to change how we think about animals. This week, I write about how we can find countless role models in the animal kingdom around us, and what that means for us as humans. How lucky are we to live on a planet with so many creatures to inspire and help us!
I remember being a kid and looking up to people around me, wishing I could act or talk or walk like them. It’s human nature to look around and spot people you admire, hoping to copy their best traits and make them your own. In college, I joined a sorority and met dozens of older women who were living lives I wanted pieces of: lawyers, professionals, mothers, wives. I triangulated myself off of these women as I grew into young adulthood, adopting ideas and behaviors I liked, dropping the rest.
A role model, according to Merriam Webster, is “a person whose behavior in a particular role is imitated by others.” We all have role models in many facets of our lives, big and small. As I think about a career change, I have looked to people who have careers I want to emulate, scouring their LinkedIn profiles for ideas. As my wife and I start talking about having a family, we have called friends of ours who already have kids to get advice. My sister just got married, and when we got our hair and makeup done, we showed photographs of looks we liked to the artist so we could copy the best parts.
Role models are all around us. Often, people don’t know they are acting as someone’s role model. We admire them from afar, in secret, embarrassed or insecure about our attraction to their lives. We think I wish I was more like her, or I wish I had his confidence. But all of us have these unspoken objects of admiration.
The truth is, none of us lives in isolation. We build our lives in conversation with the lives around us, copying and editing and re-writing the scripts we see. We are all unique, but we also all live in a world full of other people, and other people help us grow and learn and change and adapt. Sometimes we don’t know what we want until we see it. We don’t know it’s possible to have a certain job, or to act a certain way, until we have a role model showing us it’s possible.
But other humans are not the only creatures we share the planet with, nor are they the only ones we can look to as role models. Other humans have lives most similar to ours, it’s true. But as humans surrounded by a multiplicity of animals in the natural world, we have so much more available to inspire us than mere human ways of being.
For example, lately I’ve been admiring monarch butterflies. I have reflected on the cocoon stage in particular, where a caterpillar wraps itself up and shrinks away from the world, turning itself to goo before cracking open its shell with new and bright orange and black wings. Emerging from a cocoon is inspiring me right now, as it feels like a lot of big things in my life will change soon, but not yet. It feels as if I’m in my cocoon era, working in private to build a butterfly of a life that will emerge someday soon. When I feel frustrated and impatient, I think of the monarchs, their dramatic change, their resilience, their model of a life lived through change and evolution. They are a role model for me.
And I find inspiration in my dog, who every day greets the world with pure joy and excitement. He trusts instinctively and has an open heart. When I drop him off at a new dog sitter or when he meets someone for the first time, he trots away from me and into their home with very little worry. Instead of being sad he doesn’t miss me more, I’m happy he is so well-adjusted. I admire his exuberance and his trusting nature. I try to learn lessons from it, because as humans it’s so easy to become closed-off and guarded, worried about the people around us instead of open. He’s a role model for me, too.
The list goes on and on. I admire the gravity of whales, and their slow, steady movement. Much could be said about the biggest creatures on earth living off of krill, tiny organisms that float in the sea; these whales don’t use their size to bully others, but to amass wisdom and weight from the world around them. I admire the self-assuredness of tanagers and songbirds, their bright colors and musical calls. They don’t shy away from the world, but sing to to it, flashing brightly enough for everyone to see. I also admire tiny tree frogs who blend in with bark and leaves, quietly absorbing themselves into their surroundings. Elephants inspire me in their grief, raccoons in their ingenuity. Bees and ants teach me teamwork and humility. Lions remind me of the majesty of pride and strength; gazelles and deer show how much power can be found within the gentleness of grace.
We, as humans, need all of these qualities in turn.
And yes, it’s true: I’m romanticizing things here. Animals are not perfect, and they all have bad qualities, too, just like humans. But it’s okay to take what you like and leave the rest. It’s allowed to look to part of a creature, and be inspired by it.
It’s okay to have animal role models.
This week, think about your nonhuman role models. Do you admire the tenacity of houseflies? The grace of your cat? The silliness of cartoon animals? The attachment style of elephants? The migration and annual homecoming of osprey? The natural world is full of role models, if we stop to look.
I’m grateful we get to live on this planet at the same time as so many inspiring animals. Looking to their best qualities will help us remember we aren’t on this planet alone. Being here with animals expands our possibilities; it gives us too many role models to count, offering numerous ways to live a life beyond mere human imagination. Living with animals helps us live better human lives, enriching our world beyond our wildest, human-centered dreams.
If you have an animal role model, I’d love to hear about it—leave a comment or find me @emelampy.
What a lovely piece. We can learn so much from animals.