As a consequence, choosing boys names for us was a bit of a challenge. We wanted something decent, but unusual enough that they'd stand out if they needed to.
I'm not sure that we succeeded, exactly. Hmm.
The older of them has a good name, but no one knows how to pronounce it. The other one, well, he's aptly named but it may not be a good thing.
You see it turns out his name is the same as the word for "monkey" in another language.
We didn't realize this for a couple of years. When we did, one of my mates look at me like I was an idiot and said, "seriously, you didn't know that?"
Well, he is a monkey.
Off all our kids, he's been the craziest of the lot. For a long time his nickname was "monkey-man". Not surprisingly there have been many jokes about taking him to the zoo and leaving him with the monkeys.
The other day we went to Taronga zoo.
As you might imagine, at the top of the list of things to see was, monkeys. Taronga has spider monkeys, a gibbon, chimpanzees and even a couple of gorillas.
We stood outside the spider monkey enclosure for a while and watched the chimpanzees for even longer. The kids loved it. There were the requisite funny comments and thankfully we got away before the chimps did anything gross. But as I watched our kids watch the monkeys, I was left with an intriguing thought...
I wonder who is really watching who?
I say this, because as soon as you watch any kind of ape or monkey, you notice the similarities between them and humans. To be frank, some of the similarities are so stark that it's kind of uncomfortable. It's almost as if you're peering in someone else's window.
There's a strange form of voyeurism going on between humans and apes.
Which got me thinking. Hmm.
Given the similarities, it's understandable that people would want to draw parallels between the lives of wild apes and human beings. Those parallels have been used to draw conclusions about what is perceived to the truth of out 'natural' patterns of life, sexuality and relationships. Here's the problem.
I'm not a monkey. That is, we are not monkeys.
I know, people are going to start mentioning evolution and branding me as a 'fundy'. I'm not a fundy. I know evolution exists. The evidence is there to prove it. The curious thing is, it also proves, we are not monkeys, or chimps, or gorillas, or any other form of mammal or animal.
We are humans.
Cos this was the other thing I discovered at the zoo. For every thing we might have in common with monkeys, there are so many more than we don't. Ape culture is totally alien to us.
Humans are unique. We're also uniquely superior.
Uniquely superior and complex beyond any other species on the planet. Monkeys don't design ships. Chimps don't perform microsurgery. Gorillas can't go to the moon.
The upshot is this.
Learning the mating rituals of monkeys will not help me have a better marriage. Knowing chimp pack behavior will not make me a better teacher.
Because we're different.
So whatever wisdom I might need to improve my life, understand myself and make the world a better place is not going to come from the monkey enclosure. Sure, it's interesting. It's important too if we're going make sure they survive in a world of ever decreasing rain forests. However, it's not the wisdom I need.
What I need is wisdom for human beings.
I need wisdom that goes beyond the "monkey see, monkey do" approach to cute ape anthropology. Wisdom that has survived the human test of time. Wisdom that has been shown to work in human society.
Real wisdom.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get a banana...
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