Self-contained

Old is gold! I found this gem of a poem from the 19th century in my daughter’s English textbook. Its content is much needed today when we are lost in man-made complexities of life.

Sometimes, people with bad behavior are compared with wild animals. Whenever I come across such a comparison, I think it is an injustice to that animal rather than an insult to the person. Whatever is the behavior for a specific animal, it just follows the instincts and carries on towards need. They do not exaggerate the wants as their needs and do not try to get them at any cost.

If we think of misdeeds and mistakes happening due to personal ego, religion, economic status, legacy, over expectations ( self /others), it is good to learn from animals. Animals could give us many lessons to life.

• live in the present
• being happy with what we have
• treating all others as equal
• being composed in any situations
• not to regret/dwell on the past
• no obsession to possess what others have
• live for self than trying to please others
• many more …

Here is the poem for you to read. Get ready to collect some takeaway from it!

Self-Contained

I think I could turn and live with the animals,
They are so placid and self-contained.
I stand and look at them, and long, and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their own condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfied not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago.
Not one is respectable and unhappy over the whole earth.
—-By  Walt Whitman

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