Clan of the Cave Yuppie

For some reason I was thinking of this today and felt a need to put it in writing; I think it may have been prompted by a friends post. It probably sounds like something none of us would consider doing, including myself but what if, either a man or woman, never used deodorant again, never shaved our faces or for the women, their legs, armpits, waxed their eyebrows, possibly their lips. Daily showers were not an option, on occasion, when the weather permitted, you cleansed your body in a river or a mud hole. Clothing was never washed, just worn until it was shredded and then merely replaced with some facsimile of cloth. We never cut our hair, let alone comb it, style it or dye it; personal hygiene was just an occasional bother when we could no longer stand ourselves. We never cut our finger or our toenails; just depended on daily wear to manage their length, if we even cared. All of this is gross, I know. But think about it, the humans/men/women of thousands of years ago, some longer than that, probably had the exact habits I mentioned above. And why is that? They didn't know any better; simple as that. They hadn't been taught.

Other than the fact that our brains may be, and I stress may be, more well equipped to learn, we're really no different than the common Neanderthal and if we followed their ways we would resemble them very closely. We could easily have that shaggy look if we wanted to; if we tried. Their ways of communication seem even harder to me than our own. Now I don't know this from personal experience I'm just surmising; after all, we're all civilized right? What I'm basically getting at is that everything that we do, everything that we eat, how we prepare it, everything that we strive to be is learned. So the real difference is that we are more learned...period.

Now, the real gist of this post is about emotions. We know when to laugh, we sometimes can't help but cry, we all know what love is whether we've experienced it or not, we crave it, pleasure is pleasure and pain is pain; it's as simple as that. No one has to teach a newborn to cry when it's hungry, no one has to teach an infant to giggle and flail its arms and legs when its happy, an infant instinctively knows how to suckle a nipple and is obviously pleasured and happy when nestled in its mothers arms. When discussing emotions we once again are no different that the cave man.

Basic emotions are in us no matter what we have learned; we're born knowing what they mean as did the Neanderthal. Now going a little further, our learned society has tried in all situations to manage everything, improve on nature, make everything their own; do it their way. This is mostly good because let's face it, for the most part we enjoy our lives and what they are filled with because we're the ones doing the filling. We're the hunter/gatherers of our possessions, of our material lives however what we should never attempt to control or change is how we show and feel our emotions. Just because someone tells us how we should feel, you know, teaches us, offers us therapy about something emotionally does not mean that their way is correct or even desirable. No attempt should be made to sway or control these inherent feelings; besides it being a waste of time, it's not helpful at all.

So, to make a long story even longer, I guess what I'm trying to say is that by all means accept comfort from others, relish in the solace that kind words bring to you but never forget that you yourself, I myself, know why I feel what I feel and we ourselves are the only people who can heal us whether we realize it or not. And that I was not taught; I had to realize that all on my own -