Is violence natural?

What is natural? Death is natural. Killing for food is natural, right? What about the violence involved in that kill? Of course it is! If violence is natural, though, then why are we so shocked about the the rape, violence, and subsequent death, perpetrated against Anene Booysen? (Read to the end before you judge me!)

As a biology teacher, I'm often faced with having to explain to my kids how nature works - the natural order of things. I have to describe or explain the 'nature red in tooth and claw' idea. This inevitably leads to a discussion about ethics - e.g. Is it okay to hunt?

I have to accept that predators exist, and kill prey, and that a particular species only ever sees another species as food. That's just the way things are on earth, and have been since Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden.

The Bible speaks about the lion and the lamb lying down together though. Some will argue that it's an analogy, a picture to show that in God's kingdom even enemies, even species that war with each other, can find peace. It's a promise that one day, when Jesus returns, we will enter a time of peace, when there will be no more war, no violence, no death, no suffering, no tears. But that's not natural. Natural means what we do instinctively, without thinking. And that kind of peace isn't natural. Right?

Although this video is old (from 2008), it shows a remarkable series of relationships, between unlikely animals. It's not unique, by any stretch of the imagination. Do a quick search online and you will quickly discover hundreds of videos, photographs, and stories, of unlikely friendships where species that would normally NEVER be found together, love, care and support for each other - going entirely against what is their "natural" instinct.

So maybe God was serious when he said that the lion and the lamb would lie down together - maybe they really will. Maybe it's not just allegorical.

When a leopard hunts, it only does so for food, not for sport, or trophies, or even to stockpile for the winter. While I still find it horrendous to watch, I can rationalise it to myself. When human beings turn on each other like this though ... violence for the sake of violence... I don't understand that and I can't rationalise it.

Yet, if violence is 'natural', then why are we so upset? I think the obvious answer is that violence is NOT natural. Violence, even between a predator and prey, is not natural. Animals killing each other is NOT what God intended, and I have come to believe that that is yet one more effect of the Fall, one more sinister and all-pervading effect of sin. If it were, then we would be able to watch animals killing each other without even the slightest twinge of a reaction (even in our inner most private thoughts where our rationalisations can't reach).

I long for the peace of two enemies coming together in love and mutual companionship, when all animals will live side by side in peace. I long for the day when the peace that existed in Eden returns to this world. I long for the day when we will truly love and care for others (and not just ourselves or our immediate family and friends).

Violence may be part of our nature NOW, but I don't believe that violence is natural. If it were, then we wouldn't be so outraged, nor would we feel so sickened, by the events this week. No, violence is not natural, which is why we have to fight it everywhere that we encounter it - starting with ourselves, and our children.

Teaching our kids that being angry is acceptable, but losing our temper is not, is, I believe, an important first step. We have to teach our kids (and remind ourselves) how to deal with anger and disappointment without resorting to violence - whether verbal or physical. We have to teach them how to respond to pain, without striking back.

Why? Because if violence were natural, then it wouldn't matter who I hit, or swore at, or how much I hurt others. But violence is not natural.

So I'm pleased that the nation is outraged by Anene's brutalisation and her death. I'm pleased that the nation has remembered its heart, and its spirit. I pray to God that her rapists do too, that they find redemption somehow, and somewhere, through this.

Who needs locks to childproof a home?!

My sister-in-law sent me this video clip via email. It was just too cute not to share. I have no idea where it comes from, so apologies to whoever owns it that I can't acknowledge you properly. (If anyone knows whose it is, please let me know so that I can do so.)

Then, when I tried to upload it from my computer, it crashed. So, now I've embedded it from YouTube. Sigh! Anyway, at least you can get to enjoy it.

Creepy crawlies

Everyone has at least one "animal" that gives them the creeps. A few days back now, Baggins chased & caught a huge grasshopper in our garden. Watching the grasshopper gave G the grils (Afrikaans word meaning 'shivers' or the creeps). (Hey, did you know that all locusts are grasshoppers, but not all grasshoppers are locusts?) I wouldn't want to pick one up, mind you - the spines on the legs don't make for comfortable insect contact.

G's reaction got me thinking about creepy crawlies, and why we react the way we do to them. My grillerige 'animal' is the cockroach. Ugh! Even just thinking about them makes me get goosebumps and shiver. Since our kitchen has been infested though, I'm getting better at dealing with them. I can now squish the baby ones with my fingers with no adverse emotional reaction. It's still the large American cockroaches that bother me.

Then today, 6000 miles had a post about the coconut crab. Crabs, like grasshoppers, are not 'animals' I'd readily pick up - too easy to be nipped by their claws, but I like crabs. For one thing, they taste really yummy on a braai. The photo of the coconut crab gave me the grils though. If you've been to the Two Oceans Aquarium and seen the spider crabs there (which stand about 1m tall and have a leg span of about 2m), then you will already know that a crab is not a crab is not a crab. The coconut crab is so-called because it can slice a coconut in half with its pincers.

Just think about that for a moment. How huge does a crab's pincers have to be to be able to achieve that feat? Pretty big. How big is the crab that has these pretty big pincers? Huge. It's body is about 40cm in length. It's leg span is about 1m - that's longer than my arm!

Don't believe me?


This is not a photo-shopped photo. OK, the bin may be on the small side, but you get the idea. I wouldn't want to come across this creature in the dark... or even in the light, for that matter, unless I had a long stick and a big rock to hand.

But why is it that we find some organisms terrifying, when actually, we are the bigger and stronger of the two? Like spiders. Why are so many people scared of them? Most spiders, even the venomous ones, are too tiny to bite you (or if they can bite you, you get such a small amount of poison that it won't do anything to you). Take the Daddy Long-legs spider. Probably one of the most venomous spiders in the world, but it's little mouth is so small as to render it harmless to humans. Good thing too, as you'll find them all over the house/ garage.

Or caterpillars. Wriggly little worm-like creature that can do you no harm. Yet get one on your clothes and you'll probably jump or shriek, or something. Why? Why are big old humans so afraid of teeny tiny creatures? Are we just complete woeses, or is there an evolutionary advantage to being afraid of something smaller than you? If so, what is it, because I'd dearly love to understand this phenomenon.

That said, I'm not going to spend more time trying to figure this out. I'm going to bed, to sleep, perchance to dream... and spuriously swallow my requisite number of spiders. (Yup, that myth that we apparently swallow 8 spiders in our sleep per year is exactly that - a myth. It was made up as evidence of the stuff gullible people believe simply because they read something online.) Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite, or the monster under the bed.