The other side of Who are you in the Zoo?

I’ve decided that I no longer parade on show in Big Brother, I now live in the zoo! On show for the masses in a wild kingdom of the locked up zoo! I’ve been sitting in chained up in a room where the transformation from the Big Brother to the barnyard or zookeeper took place.

It all started with a group of us coming together to discuss how we would win the affections of a cat and what she’d been up to. The first voice starts and says, “I think the cat sat on the mat”. The next says, “you know what, I actually think the cat was black and wore some stunning pearls and then she sat on the mat”. Then the next says, “no, the cat did a black flip and a double pike and then she say on the mat” and then the deep voice says “folks, come on, she had her pearls on, yes back flipped, she can do that when ever she pleases and you didn’t notice that she twirled her little but off, turned and winked saying, “don’t give me jam tomorrow”, then and only then, she sat on the god damn mat”.

Harrumph, we’re agreed! Yes, yes that’s it. Pat, pat, pat, we’re all happy and the pretty little kitty sat on the mat. Don’t you find, that people in life repeat what others say so they have a voice, or have some resemblance of presence?

One would think that this much attention would have our cat licking her lips, the butter and the jam off her pores, grinning at us like a Cheshire…. but unfortunately, the problem was, no one had seen a cat in days! For there were no cats in sight, just a lot of animals talking about what they wanted the cat to do. (Sounds like a boys golf trip gone wrong and ended up in the Sahara Dessert, rather than Thailand!)

As all the guys were getting excited about how they could frame or choreograph how our little kitty was going to pucker up and curl on up on this glorious matt of ours (as that was pretty much the only thing that they collective agreed on), I started to giggle about my little rhythm, and as most healthy minds do, mine started wondering. Hmm, the cat, sitting on a the mat – hmm, I started looking across the pen; "no, he’s not a cat, no, he wont sit down if he was told to sit on a mat, ah, he might, ah, wait, no, wait, I’m not sitting in a room of cats, I’m sitting in a room with a collection of the animal kingdom!"

Oh wow, this was fun; the sides of my mouth started to curl and for the first time in the cat hunt, I got a little giggle on inside. I’d created my own little game. You’ve heard of bullshit bingo, but that was so March 2004… so it’s time to create a new game, and I shall call this – “Who are you in my Zoo?”

Then just like magic, there they are – all the faces, instantly transformed and all with wonderful characteristics of the beautiful wild. Or tame, or not so as some cases may be. The Raccoon, the Bear Cub, the Silver fox, but actually he’s not a Fox (as in my type of fox) he’s more a Labrador.  Mr Mole; my smile widens and I’m showing a cheeky grin and I bite my lip. This is fun; I’m thinking about “Toad at Toad Hall”, absolutely brilliant book and story as a child.  Then, there is the Horse, the Panda, the Jersey cow, the Hamster, the Joey, the Tarsier, the Goose, the Hippo, the Deer, the Snow Wolf, the Peacock and then there’s me, the Lioness.

The animal kingdom in the zoo, but something was missing. I looked around and we had no lion. There was no ruler of our kingdom, so the animals were wild and unsettled and every one from Pharr Lap, to the Tarsier, to the Hippo and even the Raccoon were having a crack and making noises to bid for the top spot.

Wayhay, move aside bullshit bingo, step right up animals are us!

And even when the voices were raised, there was just a lot of noise – you see it’s pretty tough to get a group silence when there is a chorus of swarks, nays, twits, meeks, burrs, grrrs, or purs all trying to be louder than the other. On the other hand,  if there were an almighty roar of a Lion, you wouldn’t here a peep, I would imagine, only a fart slipped out from the Goose’s anxiety! But, there would unison and a knowing from the kingdom that all will be ok.

In our children’s books we learn that the king of the kingdom is the Lion, in Africa, we are taught that as well, on the stage “The Lion King” tells the tale beautifully – so we are preconditioned that generally in life the strongest, most poised, most powerful man is the lion and the ruler. He is a leader, hiss stride and his presence commands the respect and what comes is a natural assembly of all. It is a birth right, a certainty that garners support so easily through his wise and magnetic ways. The natural balance of the wild in return offers the animals a sense of harmony amongst the kingdom. Everyone knows where they’re supposed to be and the roles they play.

Now, I have been called the Lioness before, and in fact, it was an apt description for my zoo game. There I was, amongst the masses, feeding and making sure they had their daily bread (a fridge stocked with fresh food) and the cubs were doing their duties and the animals were all keeping some form of respect in the kingdom…. all focused on the agenda at hand.   However, it must be said, I was really missing a Lion in this game. (Probably a good thing actually, because I would have probably wanted to jump his bones; after all, that would only be natural remember!)

The role of the Lioness is to sit back and watch and respect the male testosterone and need for the stage.  She is the strength behind the Lion, yet when he’s absent, she plays the role of silent keeper until the masses get out of line and then, and only then, will you hear her roar! In an atmosphere of pheromones and testosterone going wild, she’ll watch and observe until feels it’s needed and absolutely necessary.  No one speaks over the lioness when she has something to say! And in this game, when she roared, the animals were still, just for that moment. ROAH!

The other side of this is - Does every male animal really want to be the proverbial Lion? No I don’t think so. But I do see some animals thinking about it, and wondering what it would be like.  Or,  does the kingdom need to change in the new world?  I couldn’t help but wonder; would the Lion, being a cat himself, know how to actually find the cat and create a space for her to curl up on the mat and purr with happiness?  Or can we win a cat hunt  and have harmony without him?

Next time you get a little distracted, have a look around, you will see that your group all have features of creatures of the wild! Whether or not this seen in a “board-room” or just from “bore-dom” and a slightly “wild” imagination, regardless, trust me, take a different look, I was having a hilarious time and my grin couldn’t hide it!

What animal do you look like?


Cheers,
TBS