Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw
Reflections on my return from the Serengeti
Reflecting
After summiting Kilimanjaro earlier this year, I had some extra time in Tanzania, so a friend and I took a bush plane over to the Serengeti for a safari. We got an up close and personal view of the food chain – staggering beauty but also incredible violence. The mechanics of nature were on display from birth to death. Our modern first world feels very detached from that nature. So detached that I wonder how we survive.
Back in Connecticut, our local schools offer a heavy dose of what is called “emotional learning”. This goes beyond teaching skills to cultivating virtues but they mean a very narrow sliver of available virtues. In short, all of the focus is on the modern and effeminate, mostly empathy with a generous dose of the even more faddish inclusivity. The repetition of the need to be more empathetic and inclusive is somewhere between that of incantation from pre-Reformation monks and that of a raging case of Tourette Syndrome.
Nice is… nice. But empathy isn’t the only virtue. It gets you far in a very particular part of society in a very particular era. As long as we’re in a state of suspended animation amidst peace and prosperity, then well fine, empathy/inclusivity will suffice and empathy maximalists will win out. It is only if such people ever confront the Serengeti that they will fail and fail hard. Neither other animals nor humans for most of (the first 99% of) our existence could have survived on empathy. Strength, honor, and courage were necessities. Hard virtues are out of fashion in soft times. But this is a risky gamble that soft times last. And when the old ways are needed again, they could be needed in a hurry. And they can’t be hurried. They require more than mantras. The new ways are popular in part because they are easy. You can just say things. Their advocates will even supply the words. But the old ways require preparation and practice. Hard times call for those comfortable being uncomfortable, those hard to kill, and occasionally those less delicate.
Capitalism, like nature, is red in tooth and claw. Our all in bet of our very survival on the soft virtues is a risky gamble. Even if you think you can float along in a white-collar world where rougher men do the dirty ugly work for you out of sight, you might want to diversify with a bit of the harder stuff. The gentlest classes and most delicate societies have cutthroat competition from time to time. Amidst upheaval, trade skills and even primitive skills could come in handy. We can’t permanently protect our kids from the world’s savagery. We shouldn’t try to hide it from them. It should be introduced in manageable ways, the sooner the better, so that they are victors and not victims, survivors and not polite prey.
Empathy and inclusivity weren’t the only virtues needed on Little Round Top or Pointe du Hoc. So a great place to start diversifying beyond the exclusively trendy and effeminate is the Congressional Medal of Honor Society (they are neither). Their Medal of Honor Character Development Program encourages students to study and cultivate values including courage, patriotism, and sacrifice. You should still be nice sometimes. But other times, you should fix bayonets.
Training
This morning was six rounds of:
200 ft Farmer's Carry (KBS)
10 GHD Sit-ups
2 Hang Squat Cleans AHAP
Then working out with a trainer 1-on-1 later today.
Fueling
I’m tired of my current meal delivery plan and looking forward to getting back into meal prep after I eat my way through it. Too much chicken. Much too much cauliflower. Really eager to pivot to more red meat. Meanwhile this blah delivery service serves as a dopamine fast – a detox from the addictive and ever increasing need for palatable food to get dopamine hits. I only reach for chicken and cauliflower when I need the fuel. When it is mercifully gone, I’m going to try to use it as a gauge for my hunger. Would I reach for chicken and cauliflower? If not, then maybe I’m not hungry I’m just bored.
Measuring
On high protein and with high(er) testosterone, I am starting to monitor kidney and liver function. I tested both for the first time today at home and got good results – without boring you with way way TMI, I’ll just share the moderately TMI that these organs appear to be tolerating my diet and supplements without issue. I have a good baseline for follow-up monthly tests.
Planning
Next run is a fun one, getting to 7 miles by using every trail in this small park.
I’ll be on another run so will miss this, but locals might be interested in this free 90 minute preparedness class in New Canaan next Sunday. The teacher, Dr. Peter Philip, is a terrific shooting instructor and all around great guy. He is the kind of teacher who makes it fun but also really wants you to get it right. A buddy of mine and I recently took a firearm training course from him; we learned a ton and had a ball. Recommended without caveat.
Chris,
What do you do in regards to dairy intake? I know you're low carb and low sugar, and that eliminates many "dairy-inclusive" foods from your diet. But, how do you view milk? Raw milk? Cheese? Yogurt? And so forth...
Re: Tooth and Claw, there's rather a preoccupation in some circles with a purported sissification of America, with a variety of educational bogeymen put forth as evidence. But is it really true, and are we really worse off with an emphasis on empathy and inclusion? My blue collar public schools certainly had little room for such things, but a lot of future American adults were marginalized and left behind. Perhaps those of us who survived the crucible of mediocrity and occasional violence were stronger for it, but were the kids who were left behind a necessary cost to the nation? And for that matter did it really generate fitter members of society? Conversely, many of the talking heads flogging this notion come from the most privileged and soft upbringings imaginable. Take Tucker Carlson, a poster child for pampered upbringing, now advocating for testicular lasering to regain lost manlitude.
I have to wonder if the concerns about empathy and inclusion are really just code for insecurities about an America that is increasingly diverse. Nature has no regulation -- predators may eat all the prey (and then see their own numbers collapse as a result). But nations' strength and stability come from many factors. Out of necessity, the colonists had to leverage shared responsibility for each other to survive. I'd argue that empathy and inclusion make nations stronger. Get all the kids playing time (at least until varsity and comp leagues), because you never know who's going to grow, and who's going to flame out. The black or gay or immigrant kid that isn't marginalized may be the next Tim Cook, Sergey Brin, or Condoleeza Rice.