by Sophie Playle

Created on: May 07, 2009   Last Updated: June 08, 2009

Past a human's unnaturally clothed and socially molded exterior, there is an innate primal essence at the very core. The dominating species can not only kill with brute strength, fists pounding, teeth tearing; but a we have evolved a brain too tuned to science, perhaps less tuned to what we call 'humanity'. Perhaps we are more like the wolf than we think we are.

How close are we to becoming the ultimate beast? The beast that can wipe out every living thing at the push of a button?

We run in packs. We are social creatures. Social creatures leading solitary lives. We live in tight-knit communities, each a cog in a revolving machine, yet we isolate ourselves in a four-walled building we call a home. We are a contradiction: all lone wolves in one huge pack.

But our social structure is complex. We have set values, expectations, we have laws. Social services save some and destroy others. Social stigma makes us turn on our own. Peer pressure can twist a person. Our brains work over-time when it comes to social behavior. Our instincts have become extracted and mutated. The wolf, on the other hand, lives a simple life. Perhaps it is better for it. They have strong loyalties. Wolves mate for life - a very rare occurrence in our complex social world. Wolves take care of each other, from adopting orphaned pups to looking out for the weaker elders. Their instincts know that a strong pack is a pack that survives as one.

The wolf pack is dominated by a strong leader. This leader holds the pack together. They are there because they are the best individual for the job. They didn't bribe or fake their way to the top, and it wasn't by lucky chance or through higher connections, much like how some humans claw their way to the top of a company. The wolf leader is respected because they are right where they are meant to be.

We don't like to see blood. Our meat is stacked neatly in plastic on a refrigerated shelf in a supermarket. This isn't just any meat; this is re-named, vacuum-packed, dissociated meat. Dissociated from the animal it came from, the slaughter and the blood. Tuck in - it's guilt free if you don't think about where it came from.

However, some of us do like to see blood. Especially the blood of our own kind. Fuelled by malice, anger, spite, power... or coldly calculated. Our ability to murder comes from a dark place in humanity. Our species is capable of cruelty beyond imagination. Wolves only kill for food or out of necessity.

Everything good that the wolf stands for is primal, instinctual, innate. We, too, have those attributes. But they are deep within us, twisted and suppressed. Many people are afraid of the wolf. They believe that they are dangerous, driven by the desire to kill. Maybe they should be looking more closely at a bigger threat, the animal in the mirror.

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