Pen and Ink,  First Place winner in Ventura and Monterey County Fairs  2008-09

 

Why Wolves?

Originally posted on January 12, 2011 by theartofwolves

The wolf pack is one of the world’s familial wonders. It is not my intention to educate the unbeliever on why wolves are certainly extraordinary creatures. The pack can simply be translated as a family.  A typical pack has an alpha male and female who have the privilege of breeding exclusively and remain together for life.  In the simplest of definitions, a human family also has a male and female ruling party and their offspring; then aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.  All members comprise what traditionally makes up what society commonly calls “family”.  As in a wolf pack, close friends can be part of the “family” too.  Sometimes the friends can be more loyal than the relatives…

I will not try to be politically correct.  Of course, every version of “family” can be conjured up and explained as “normal”.  So be it.  I will just share my take on it from my own perspective.

I was married and had nine children with my husband of 27+ years.  We didn’t have the perfect marriage.  But, I tried my very best for most of that time…  My side of the family has all the loonies, and his side is educated, successful and socially acceptable.  In a wolf pack, the loonies tend to lose out (or be driven out) and never rise to alpha status.  It is unlikely that an alpha would ever fall from grace unless physical or mental injury causes some malfunction in expected behavior.  That’s where I depart from “wolves” as an animal species to be compared exclusively with humans.  I’m a classic outcast that dares to rise again.

In a wolf pack, when you don’t follow the rules, you may find yourself ripped to shreds by those who live by them.  Humans can be mercifully flexible in their judgement of what comprises the “family” and who belongs, though not always or in every situation.  The truth is we make our own rules.  Or we follow those we agree with. The freedom of choice is that gem of humanity that makes each life unique.  The art of living is what the enlightened soul strives to excel in and to watch a wolf pack, one cannot help but see that they’ve got it down, in their animal, non-human way.

There’s a reason I have loved wolves in an almost hypnotic, soul-wrenching way.  I like to think I’m heading towards that sort of mastery. That wild, insatiable love for the experience of life as I live it alongside those that make it possible.

Well… We shall commune again. Though, more than anything, I just like to write and care little at this point if anyone is listening.

 

p.s.  This was the last of three posts I made four years ago in my first blog under the name “theartofwolves”.  Because I no longer have the email address or the password I was unable to log in and recover that account when I accidentally stumbled upon it during a Google search.  I thought that blog was deleted.  Thus, “TheArtofWolves” is now my name and I am your host at creativesontheedge.com