Breed The Secret Design To Maintain Racial Inequality Among The Despised Classes (28 page)

Shortly thereafter, Sabrina left me and
returned to Cuyamonga. Needless to say I was left shattered. “How
could this be happening?” I desperately wondered. “What did I do
wrong? Didn’t I strive with all of my might to create the best
world imaginable for my friends and family?” These and other
questions weighed heavily on my mind. Admittedly I began to
second-guess myself. I decided to seek solace from my mentor the
old St Bernard, who by the way was also serving as Utopia’s first
king. Though I made all the decisions about Utopia’s future I still
regarded my mentor with high esteem. In spite of the difference of
opinion that arose from our last encounter, my friend appeared
happy to see me. This was a great relief because I really needed
someone to talk to. “Christopher, how has life been treating you?”
he asked with a smile. “Not so good,” I replied. “I should have
listened to you when you said that animal was not meant to rule
himself.” I paused here expecting the old dog to gloat but he
remained silent. I went on, “Sabrina has abandoned me and taken
with her my hopes of being a good father. No matter what I do or
how good my intentions are, life seems to reward me with one
disappointment after another.” Sympathetically the old St Bernard
rested his paw on my shoulder. “Christopher, in life sometimes we
find ourselves in situations that don’t seem to have a way out.
When we retrace our steps to try and figure out how we got so
entangled, it may still seem to be a mystery. Don’t despair
Christopher. It’s a waste of time to continue beating yourself up
over past mistakes. You must look at your situation now and figure
out how you can make the best of a bad situation until it is
removed.” As my mentor was speaking to me I began to regain spirit.
It suddenly dawned on me what I needed to do next. I said, “You’re
right! You’re always right! I will make the best of a bad
situation. There’s nothing I can do about Sabrina’s abandoning me
but I can still create a better world for my children.” My words
caused the old dog to frown slightly. I ignored this and went on,
“It seems to me that one of the problems we are having in Utopia is
that too many animals are still hanging on to the old ways of
thinking. In short, its an educational problem.” My mentor placed
both paws on his head in frustration but I barely noticed because I
was lost in thought. I thought out loud, “What if there was a way
to educate the masses to the point where everyone understood their
role in society. Since animalkind seems to need constant reminders,
we could create institutions of learning that animals would never
have to graduate from.” All at once I excitedly embraced my mentor
nearly knocking the crown off of his head. “Thank you!” I declared
appreciatively. I then turned to leave. The old dog had his mouth
open as if he had something more to say but I hurried off anyways.
There was so much to do and so little time to do it in.

As I headed back to my headquarters a
situation occurred that made me even more determined to implement
plans for adult education. I overheard an alarming conversation.
“You’re a dirty mutt! All mixed breeds are mutts!” another voice
retorted, “Be careful. The leader is a mixed breed.” Undeterred the
first voice replied, “I don’t care. He’s a mutt too!” It was at
this point that I emerged from among the bystanders. You could hear
a pin drop. To ease the tension I remarked, “Don’t stop the
discussion on my account. Enlighten us with your knowledge of
eugenics.” Before I continue I would just like to mention that all
of the cats involved in the following discussion were of mixed
breed. The citizen who had labeled me as a mutt was a black orange
and white calico cat. He now stood speechless frequently glancing
around the group as if he expected someone to rescue him. The other
citizen who issued the warning was a female tortoiseshell cat
brindled with orange and black. Addressing the calico I continued,
“You say we’re mutts. Right? And this insult is supposed to make us
feel low. But I say ‘Ok I’m a mutt. Now what?’ I don’t feel
offended by the insult. Now what are you going to do? It confuses
you, which in turn leads to anger. Have you ever asked yourself why
that is?” At this point someone shouted, “Its not offensive because
we’ve reclaimed the word and legitimized its meaning!” To
everyone’s surprise I dismissed this interjection with one word.
“Nonsense!” I looked around the crowd in hope of hearing a logical
suggestion. After a considerable period of silence I explained, “If
I know that your opinions of me are based on a false premise how
can I feel insulted? The only emotion I would feel if I felt
anything at all would be genuine pity. This pity is not from some
opinion that I’ve formed that I am somehow superior to you. Rather
it is from the knowledge of the fact that I understand things you
may never understand. That’s not meant to be a put down. Its just
that, what’s meant to be simple you see as complex and what’s meant
to be complex you see as simple.” A look of confusion passed over
the audience. I thought, “You don’t understand me now but
eventually you will all get it.” I continued, “So what will you do?
There are only two options. Will you double down on your ignorance
and strengthen your opinions of superiority or will you recognize
the fact that you don’t understand anything about breed? Until you
come to recognize this you will never truly be a higher animal.”
After passing glances between one another the animals slowly began
applauding. Not one of them seemed to know what they were
applauding about. Nevertheless the consensus was that applause was
in order. As I mentioned earlier, I took my leave of this group
more convinced than ever that Utopia needed a system of adult
education. To this day I’m convinced that this idea would have met
with certain success if it hadn’t been undermined by unforeseen
occurrences. Who knows? If this reform had been properly carried
out maybe things would have turned out differently. But I
digress.

The project of creating institutions of
continuing adult education initially met with enthusiasm. Schools
were set up and the animals were eager to learn. As time went on
however we ran into a few snags. Certain animals were of the
opinion that such institutions were somehow obstructing their
freedom. It alarmed me that some citizens felt oppressed by the
institutions even if it was only a minority. “After all,” I said to
myself. “Utopia should stand for freedom just as much as it stands
for equality.” I decided to give the minority a listening ear.
Their basis for argument was valid but their reasoning was off.
They argued that they had the right to remain in ignorance if that
is what made them feel free. I argued that the schools were a forum
for freedom of thought and that it would be to there benefit if
they took advantage of the forum. In effect I argued that the
schools would make them freer. Eventually I persuaded them to
remain in school but the debate opened the door to all kinds of
controversies regarding freedom. One such controversy involved a
rabbit who thought he was a dog and a cat who believed he was a
rabbit. The rabbit attempted to chase the cat but the cat refused
to run on the grounds that all animals are now equal. “Besides,” he
argued. “I’m no more a cat than you are a rabbit. I may appear to
be a cat on the outside but that’s not my fault. On the inside I’m
a rabbit and I refuse to be treated any differently than any other
rabbit in Utopia.” These animals raised a valid point. Admittedly I
didn’t understand what they were feeling because I couldn’t imagine
ever believing I was anything other than a cat. “Nevertheless,” I
thought. “Just because I don’t understand their feelings does that
make them any less valid? If the rabbit says that he is a dog in a
rabbit’s body and the cat says he is a rabbit in a cat’s body, I
have to take their word for it. Don’t I? After all, I cant put
myself in their bodies to know if its true or not.” But then I
began to think, “Wait a minute. These animals can’t put themselves
in the bodies of other animals either. How does the rabbit truly
know what it feels like to be a dog? Similarly, how does the cat
know what it feels like to be a rabbit? They seem to be so
absolutely sure of what they truly are and yet their evidence is
the same as mine.” After struggling with the question for many
weeks I finally made a decision. I announced, “Utopia is a land of
equality and freedom. Therefore Utopian citizens have the freedom
to be whatever it is they feel that they are.” Everyone who heard
about it met this news with great rejoicing. It seemed as if Utopia
was finally turning a corner. Things were going to be all right
from here on out. That’s when everything started to unravel.
Unnatural carnivores began to emerge from the population. Hearing
about the concessions I had granted to certain animals these
carnivores now demanded the freedom to eat what they wanted to eat.
I call them unnatural carnivores because among them were animals
that used to be strict vegetarians like rabbits and deer. “This is
too much,” I thought. “Its unnatural. True, Utopia represents
freedom but this goes beyond the realms of acceptability.” I flatly
refused to make this concession and just as a precaution I sent out
Chauncey with his troops to make sure everything remained calm.
When he returned with his report I nearly collapsed. Not only had
he witnessed animals devouring one another but also this was
apparently not a new phenomenon. It appears that many of the
animals had acquired a taste for flesh in the aftermath of the
earthquake. The casualties were considered fresh meat. Once this
delicacy was exhausted I was told that they moved on to the
injured. Instead of rescuing them they would hasten and in many
cases even cause their death. This means that the rumors I had
heard from abroad were true. I knew I needed to act fast so I sent
both Chauncey and Rizzo with all of their troops to bring an end to
the barbarism by force. The rebels put up a tremendous struggle and
it took a number of days but eventually my generals were able to
crush the rebellion. I worried about where I would contain all the
prisoners since we were running out of room in the reformatory.
This problem soon resolved itself however. As we locked up the
animals in the confined space they all at once began devouring one
another, which freed up space. The weakest were devoured first then
the strongest battled for supremacy. I was greatly disturbed by all
of this aggressive behavior by Utopian citizens but at the same
time I was glad the beasts were caged up so as not to bring harm to
the free population. Although these measures seemed to temporarily
stabilize things, discontent was on the rise. To make matters worse
I began to hear unsettling rumors from abroad that my children were
being raised as speciests. According to the rumors, Zarathustra was
taking a personal interest in their training. This was no doubt his
way of getting back at me for not joining him. The rumors left me
visibly shaken. I was at my wit’s end. Just when I was about to
throw in the towel someone showed up and saved me from despair.
“Molly! Am I glad to see you!” I exclaimed. She cheerfully pranced
up to me with three kittens trailing behind her. “Christopher,” she
said. “We need to talk.” Immediately the stress over my low
approval ratings began to melt away. “Sure,” I said, putting on a
concerned expression. “Is everything ok?” Molly nervously smiled.
“Do you remember that time that I said we were always only
friends?” “How could I forget?” I thought. “I’m still carrying
around the emotional scars from that day.” Those were my thoughts.
What I said was, “Vaguely. I do remember something to that effect.”
She continued, “I wasn’t being honest with you. The truth is, I
have always loved you. I just thought I wasn’t good enough for you.
I knew you had certain goals you were working towards and I didn’t
want to get in your way.” You could have knocked me over with a
feather! “Really?” I exclaimed, “Why didn’t you say something? I
feel the same about you! I have always loved you!” My heart was on
fire. Suddenly one of the kittens began tugging on her tail.
“Mommy? Who is this cat?” Looking back, she ushered the little ones
in front of her. “This is my good friend Christopher,” she said.
“Christopher, this is Stuart, Derek, and Misty. They are the light
of my life.” Crouching down, I began playing with the little ones.
I was then struck with a sudden impulse. I stood erect and gripped
Molly’s paws. “Run away with me,” I said. “We can make a fresh
start together. Just me, you and the little ones. What do you say?”
Molly looked down at her children but remained silent. I said,
“Don’t worry about them. I’ll raise them as if they were my own.”
To my surprise she sternly replied, “They already have a father.” I
was a little taken aback by this. She continued in a softer tone,
“It wouldn’t be right to take them so far away. After all, he still
has the right to be near his children. Besides, don’t you still
have a lot of work to do here in Utopia? The world isn’t going to
bring about equality on its own.” I smiled outwardly but on the
inside I felt wounded. I don’t know why. What she said was true.
“Your right,” I said. “I’ll go along with whatever you think is
best.” Molly faintly smiled. She then peered at my face curiously
with her large copper eyes. “You look much older than you did the
last time I saw you,” she said. “How has life been treating you?”
Immediately my previous worries came back to mind. She listened
attentively as I unburdened myself to her. I told her about how
Sabrina abandoned me and about the growing discontent despite all
of my concessions. She comforted me. “Don’t be too discouraged,”
she said. “The issues you are dealing with are as old as time. I
heard Socrates once complained about animals always demanding
individuality. As soon as it’s granted, what do they do? Everyone
copies one another. Finally he concluded that’s its just not
possible to please everyone. Once he stopped trying, his job became
a whole lot easier. I don’t know if that helps but at least now you
know you’re not alone in dealing with this problem.” I nodded
appreciatively. “Thank you. It does help a little. But Utopia is a
lot different than the Union of Animals. We have the only truly
free animal society in the world. Our problems must be coming from
outside influence.” Molly slightly frowned. I continued, “If only
there was a way to protect our citizens from the outside world…” I
would just like to point out that during all this time of regional
instability Utopia’s borders had remained open. Utopia maintained a
policy, which invited any animal that craved freedom, to join us.
In addition, if for some reason they wanted to leave, they were
free to go at any time. It was at this point that I began to
rethink our policy. I said, “Molly. When I invited you to my home,
it wasn’t just a place to stay I was offering. I took on the
responsibility to protect you from the outside world. Should it be
any different with Utopia’s citizens? They are like my children. I
need to protect them.” Molly listened attentively. “What if…” I
continued. “…we were to erect a wall surrounding Utopia? This would
serve to keep any bad influences from corrupting their minds.” In
an undertone Molly replied, “I don’t know if that would work.”
Undeterred I continued, “We’re just brainstorming here. Think about
it. One of the problems we may be having is that too many citizens
don’t see themselves as part of the community. If we ask our
citizens to remain in Utopia for a while and at the same time
succeed in keeping our enemies out, imagine what we could
accomplish.” At this point Molly’s children began to stir and her
attention was diverted. I helped her to gather up the little ones
and put them to bed. The subject was dropped but a seed had already
been planted in my mind.