I recently read a wonderful book (it happened to be post-apocalyptic, a genre I enjoy, but it was actually recommended to me by a wolf expert for the realistic portrayal of wolf behavior), and there was one passage that really struck me. So much so I had to borrow the book again to get the exact text:
“Again he fell into the habit of wearing the same amount of clothing no matter what the temperature was, and being more or less indifferent to whether he needed warmth or was too hot – except that he stowed the leather jacket away. Also, the daily habit of shaving he had resumed briefly at the pass was forgotten. His beard once more was full and black. It was almost as if his clothing had become his pelt, as Wolf's pelt was his; and there was no reason to think of making changes in it simply to adapt to small changes in temperature.
So he let his beard grow and lived in his clothes. These things were unimportant.”
Wolf and Iron, Gordon R. Dickson
Imagine if we did not have cultural expectations, importance, to change our clothing daily or sometimes it seems even hourly! If we were able to wear something that was comfortable for whatever the activity, and that “small changes” of 10, 20, possibly more, degrees made little difference to our overall comfort. I have often envied animals for their ability to lie in the snow, stand in the rain, whatever the situation, with no apparent discomfort. Haired animals that thicken their coats for the cold of winter, then shed them for the heat of summer, but not constantly shrugging in and out of layers on a daily basis.
It could be argued that they may prefer to be able to change and simply aren't able. I'm inclined to believe they simply don't need to, and that humans, amazingly wonderfully adaptable creatures, have taken adaptability a bit too far and seriously limited our own comfort range.
3 comments:
Wolves have an advantage in that their pelts don't wrinkle. I have a few clothes comfortable enough to wear day and night but they don't look as nice the second day. :)
After I commented above I went on to do the rest of my daily blog reading. Two of them had pictures of kids standing in cold ocean waters one of them in Alaska yesterday! Then I realized that when we were kids my brothers and I could play outside in all types of water and weather without thinking a thing of it. When did we lose that ability?
In the context of the quote, wrinkles were unimportant. If we did not have the cultural expectations, would wrinkles become unimportant?
I remember as a kid sleeping in whatever I was wearing. My mom was always surprised I could sleep in jeans. I have lost that ability myself. Of course I didn't have nearly as much stuff in my pockets as a kid either!
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