A moment of humility on behalf of mankind.
There are Canada geese living near where I work. The other day I was trapped behind a silver beamer, stopped in traffic, wondering what the hell he was doing, when I saw a goose waddling slowly from in front of his car, followed by a second.
"What an ungraceful creature" was my first thought, angry at being held up on my way to lunch. (I was cursing the geese, not the BMW-driver, although... ;) But later I started thinking about it... while geese are not graceful on land, they certainly make flying look easy, with their streamlined formations and slow, effortless-looking wing-flapping.
Furthermore, if they're anything like ducks when swimming, then they also possess more grace in the water than on land.
Well, this got me thinking. Humans are not just graceless, but completely useless in the air, at least unassisted by technology. I mean, the best we can do is fall short distances onto soft things without dying. Some humans may have trained themselves to fall fairly gracefully - competitive divers, trampolinists, gymnasts, and the like - but that's very limited; and for the most part, as a race, we just don't DO air.
Same thing applies in water. There's a great deal of variation here, from those who would unceremoniously flail their way to a drowning-death, to competitive swimmers who make it look reasonably easy. Still, on average, a splashy and tiring front-crawl in the water is no better than a goose-waddle on dry land.
But, humans were not intended to operate in those environments - clearly, we're the masters of dry land, right? Human two-legged ambulation, while technically impressive, is (I think) not a particularly graceful way to navigate land. Again, your mileage may vary. (Ha!) Some people are total klutzes, while others sprint or dance or whatnot - but when compared to felines slinking about, or horses' gaits, or even the way snakes slither and some insects move, we're certainly not at the front of the pack on land, either.
So, all-in-all, I had a sort-of "zen moment of humility" for my species, which I thought I'd share. :)
B.
"What an ungraceful creature" was my first thought, angry at being held up on my way to lunch. (I was cursing the geese, not the BMW-driver, although... ;) But later I started thinking about it... while geese are not graceful on land, they certainly make flying look easy, with their streamlined formations and slow, effortless-looking wing-flapping.
Furthermore, if they're anything like ducks when swimming, then they also possess more grace in the water than on land.
Well, this got me thinking. Humans are not just graceless, but completely useless in the air, at least unassisted by technology. I mean, the best we can do is fall short distances onto soft things without dying. Some humans may have trained themselves to fall fairly gracefully - competitive divers, trampolinists, gymnasts, and the like - but that's very limited; and for the most part, as a race, we just don't DO air.
Same thing applies in water. There's a great deal of variation here, from those who would unceremoniously flail their way to a drowning-death, to competitive swimmers who make it look reasonably easy. Still, on average, a splashy and tiring front-crawl in the water is no better than a goose-waddle on dry land.
But, humans were not intended to operate in those environments - clearly, we're the masters of dry land, right? Human two-legged ambulation, while technically impressive, is (I think) not a particularly graceful way to navigate land. Again, your mileage may vary. (Ha!) Some people are total klutzes, while others sprint or dance or whatnot - but when compared to felines slinking about, or horses' gaits, or even the way snakes slither and some insects move, we're certainly not at the front of the pack on land, either.
So, all-in-all, I had a sort-of "zen moment of humility" for my species, which I thought I'd share. :)
B.