A few days ago while reflecting and meditating, something I have a little more time for, now that I have quit chasing the great American dream, out of the void came the adjective; “Dog-Eat-Dog”. The concept stayed, floating on the periphery of my thoughts for a couple of days, until finally I had to take a closer look.
The original Roman proverb from Marcus Tarentius Varro in 43 B.C. stated the opposite, “Canis caninam non est” (“Dog does not eat dog”). We should be able to extend that to humans by implication but history shows that humans generally are not as principled as dogs. The idiom probably got flipped in the 16th century as folks imagined a world in which metaphorical dogs, (humans) did eat each other. Not surprisingly, by the time of the Industrial Revolution, phrases such as “It’s a dog eat dog world” became quite common.
“It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and I’m wearing Milk Bone underwear.” – Norm Peterson, Cheers
I just can’t get past the complete reversal of the original proverb. Dogs do not exhibit unseemly politician-eat-politician behavior. Consider the present paradigm and how this particular idiom permeates our schools, the workplace and politics of course, where people will do anything to be successful, even if what they do harms other people and is marked by ruthless self-interest. In a dog-eat-dog world we lose part of our humanity, the best part. It’s the opposite of the golden rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated becomes, destroy anyone in your path to get what you want, it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. I have even witnessed this win at all costs mentality in the playful acts of children. Why did “do your best” become “it’s a dog-eat-dog world?”
“The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” -Mark Twain
I went out with the dogs this morning and a baby bird showed up in the yard. I didn’t see where it came from, I just caught Max going into point mode out of the corner of my eye. Then once he noticed it couldn’t fly, he was on him, like a down and wounded. He’s a birddog, that’s his job. He gently mouthed the bird and fetched him to me. In a matter of seconds there were two dozen grackles, filling the tree and grackling at the top of their lungs, dive bombing Max and I. The birds fearlessly challenging two large, dangerous beasts in the attempt to save one of their own. I gently released the baby bird on the outside of the fence so Max wouldn’t be tempted to toy with it but he was already headed for the doggie door, I think one of grackles got him on top of the head and he wanted nothing to do with the cacophony of their fierce screeching.
Dogs have principals, even birds have principles, but we humans persist in teaching our young ones that it’s a dog-eat-dog world. This is the road to extinction, not evolution. Don’t get me wrong, I’m by no means suggesting that the majority of humanity takes this maxim as truth. In fact, I believe the opposite, that in our hearts we would like the grackle, risk our own safety to help others. Yet when I watch many of the popular shows on Netflix or network television, (not often) they are filled with self-interested, ruthless characters that more often than not are mowing other humans down, not protecting them. Why has this dog-eat-dog philosophy become so pervasive in our society?