Ethics Theories, "Learned Through The Monkeys?"

A friend of mine since childhood, Mark (a human primate just like me), e-mailed me an article titled Caring For Senior Zoo Citizens Getting Tricky (Associated Press, msnbc.msn.com/id/25265173) . The article describes how many different zoos from around the country are facing the challenges of caring for the elderly animals such as Rollie, an Emperor Tamarin monkey. Rollie lives at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. He is 17 years old, an age that he almost certainly never would have lived to in the Amazon. He is down to only 6 teeth (out of 32), which he has always used to crunch on raw vegetables, such as sweet potato.

“At the El Paso Zoo, keepers noticed six years ago that Sheba, their regal black jaguar, was faltering. Worsening arthritis made it difficult for her to climb. Her kidneys were failing. Cataracts limited her ability to see.” They recently made the difficult decision to administer euthanasia to her, shutting her body down for good. Sheba was 27 years old. .
Animals in captivity tend to live much longer than they would have in their natural environments because they are granted an exception to nature’s survival laws.
We face the same challenges at Frisky’s Wildlife and Primate Sanctuary in Woodstock, MD. We recently had to make the decision to not “prolong the suffering” any longer for our little 14 year old Zoey, a female Bolivian Squirrel Monkey, who had dropped to just 1/2 lb. She had been suffering for many years with Crohn’s Disease and no longer had any good days. Whew—it’s a real tough thing to do. She was so sweet, but appeared to be getting tinier every day. The ride to the Vet’s office was a tough one for volunteers Matt and Joyce Dietsch. It didn’t help that I was standing there sobbing as she was being placed into the kennel cab for safe travel.

There is an essential doctrine in Buddhism, called the Impermanence Doctrine. It states that every conditioned existence, without exception, is inconstant and in flux. Life embodies this flux in the aging process, the birth process, and in the experience of loss. Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the most respected Zen Masters in the world today, says “Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. Without Impermanence, life is not possible. How can our daughter grow up into a beautiful young lady? How can we transform our suffering? How can the situation in the world improve? We need impermanence for social justice and hope.”

There are new little ones arriving at Frisky’s every day that need our help for a second chance at life. They remind us that our love is not all used up after we lose a loved one. They give us renewed hope and lift our spirits and keep us distracted so that time can heal us.

Impermanence is ever-present in the workplace, as well. I was reading an article titled

11 Ways To Fix Your Workplace Depression (www.TheDailyMind.com) and was reminded that Stress is impermanent and Deadlines are impermanent. What may be a huge stress today at work will be completely different a month from now; maybe even an hour from now. “The next time you feel depressed or stressed at work, take a deep breath and say to yourself, “This feeling will not last forever.” Feelings are impermanent.

Little Zoey woke me up to the impermanence of life.. She would give a little squeal that sounded much like a bird chirp. When I would look over her way, she was leaning up against the side of her enclosure so that I could come and rub her back. How I miss that now. One of my teachers, Reverend Nancy Stepp, from the Community of Spiritual Awareness, said this in one of her talks. “Everybody in our lives is only on loan to us.”

So today, will you talk to or treat somebody different now that you have been reminded of that?

Heather Wandell is a Certified Laughter Leader with the World Laughter Tour and is the CEO of her own company.

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