The Tipping of Cows
I was thinking about cows because they are cute and it occurred to me that there seems to be perverse enjoyment in the popular culture with cow-tipping. For those not familiar, cow-tipping is the act of sneaking up to a sleeping cow which stand when sleeping and push it over and then running away like crazy because you just pissed off a 1-ton animal.
Now here is the strange part – what if cows were actually intelligent enough to respond. They would talk among the other bovines, “damn those kids – they really pissed me off last night!” Or “moo moo- moo mooo!! But if they are that intelligent then they must be exercising restraint because you never hear about talking cows or “damn – this cow – yeah – a cow! It just ran me off the road! And then he told me to go to hell!” No – you never hear that…
Why? They have made a choice that the consequences of their actions outweigh the benefit. Is it really worth sending someone into a mental depression and psychosis for the next 20 years by sneaking into his room and giving him good tongue lashing? Cows have developed a humanistic equation where the value and quality of life have a currency – a currency that has more value than a simple act of retribution.