Added: 06/27/2007 |
Friendship, History and HumanityLooking at friendship history, you see the history of humanity. Without making, keeping and changing alliances, the human race would not have accomplished very much. Although the world would've been better off without human wars, toxic chemicals and nuclear power, humans have also brought some good to the world. Friendship is one of them. Without friendship, whether with animals, with God or with other people, the human race would be a very sad species indeed.
Everything seems to have alliances or friendships of some sort in the natural world. The gravity of a star affects everything that comes around it, for example. Even the friendships you choose to make and break can have a ripple effect in the world, much like when you throw a small pebble into a pond and large ripples spread out all the length and breadth of the pond.
Animals and plants have relationships; usually this is a predator/prey relationship but there are genuine friendships, too. Fish, whales, animals and birds that live in groups or herds form attachments to their friends just as strongly as human friendships. This is not just instinct. Friendships often have no obvious advantage for the individual friends. In January 24, 2006, a small zoo in Japan made friendship history: a corn snake named Aochan had made friends with his dinner, a Russian dwarf hamster now named Golan. Why do they bother? Because they are friends.
The oldest recorded myths and legends are about friendship. History has been forever altered by the Epic of Gilgamesh and his best friend Enkidu from ca 2750 BCE); the friendship of the legendary Jewish King David and his friend Jonathan, son of the man trying to kill David; and India’s sacred Baghavad Gita features the friendship of Prince Arjuna and his charioteer, Krishna.
Animals need to form alliances not just for protection, and shared body heat, but for their own sanity. Some animals are friendlier than others, such as dogs, while big cats keep to themselves except when it is time to mate. While some animals relish their own company, most animals view the worst form of torture possible as lack of friendship. History proves this with Dr. Harry Harlow in the 1960’s isolated baby Rhesus monkeys in experiments to see what would happen. The films that survive today are ghastly as the monkeys would rock themselves endlessly, mutilate themselves and become completely silent, as no one ever responded to their cries. Some monkeys spent over fifteen years in confinement. Some monkeys, when finally allowed contact with others, would not have a clue as to what to do and would huddle in corners, petrified.
Friendship is considered one of the most noble and saintly of virtues, whether it is between an animal and another animal, animal and human, human and human, or human with his or her choice of God. With friendship, we have a chance to step outside of our skin and see through someone else’s eyes. By becoming friends with other beings, we affirm our own self-worth and our interconnection with others and ultimately, discover how to become best friends with our own self.
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