Behavior

We think we're so high and mighty as humans, so much better than the creatures we eat, keep as pets or ride for our amusement. We have brains, we can reason, we can think! The lowly cow is far more base, more primitive than our superior frontal lobes.

I'm coming to believe that really isn't the case.

There was a heifer at the dairy who was very reluctant to go back to her pen after milking. The pens and alleys are bordered by a heavy, electrified cable that shocks the hell out out anything it touches. Ask me how I know.

Poor heifer accidentally hits the fence and gets shocked. Heifer's little brain says "I went over there and I got shocked! That sucks, I'm not going to go there again." So try as we might, no tail twisting, prodding or swearing will get the heifer back in her pen. I get the brilliant idea to take the fence down, turn it off and try to drive her through the much wider opening than the alley provides. It works! Poor heifer has issues with the fence for about a week.

There's a professor that I hate talking to. Every time I see this person, I always feel like a complete and utter moron. Never fails. Now I really need to talk to her about something, but I'm putting it off. Why? Every question I ask is met with more questions that unfailingly make me feel like I don't know jack crap and should get a job with Jack In The Box immediately and forget school.

My tiny brain thinks, "I go to her office and get reamed. That sucks, I'm not going back there again." Just like the heifer. Unlike the heifer though, who felt no shame or compunction over avoiding the narrow opening of the alley into her pen, I fight with myself over it. "Go to her office. The door's open, she's there. It's just a little question, how bad can it be?" Well, she could ask me for the thesis I haven't written yet, she could ask me for the data I haven't analyzed yet, she could berate me for not coming and asking this question sooner. "Good point. Maybe we'll wait for tomorrow."

And for some reason I think I'm better than the cow.