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Walker 1

Beulah Walker

Professor Carol MacArthur

English 105

06/18/2016

The paper has discussed critically how man could learn some of life’s behaviors, especially when making decisions. The paper has used Ann Dillard’s’ “living like Weasels” to point out how mankind could learn from such a small but wild creature like weasels.

Learning to Live: Besides Willpower

At some point in life, we will have to evaluate our lives and conclude whether our existence was “well lived”, “we lived well” or it was “worth living”. All these conclusions will be determined by the decisions we presently make, how unwavering we are to realize our dreams as well as fulfilling ones’ calling and how we respond to various motivations within and without our lives. Luckily, human beings are a kind of its own that is gifted with instincts that are not enjoyed by other species on earth that they are able to use their mind to make informed choices and live as they may like. However, besides willpower, we can learn how to lead our lives even from the least expected factors; including wild animals.

“Living like Weasels”, the work of Annie Dillard's describes a sixty second encounter with a weasel next to a littered pool, an essay where an individual wishing to lead a life of matter would draw a number of lessons, from the passionate and attentive conduct of the weasels. The essay examines how one could live his/her own life, arguing that “…We can live any way we want…” (Dillard 120) though human beings are ever worried about their future lives forgetting that they have a present life to enjoy. When she comes across this wild creature that “…stalks rabbits, mice, muskrats, and birds, killing more bodies than he can eat warm…”, (120) she was able to suggest how we could learn some instincts for survival, other than living.

From her text, we however notice that the only feature that separates humans from perusing their life time dreams and desires unlike the weasels is the state of their mind. It is quite obvious that mankind is concerned with the kind of decisions they make as they are afraid of what may result from their choices, creating an avenue for fear of the future, or moving on after failure. Human nature should learn from the fact that weasels act towards immediate satisfaction of their needs. For instance, she writes a story of an individual who shot an eagle and found a skull of a weasel on the eagles’ throat, proofing that it died while fighting for its life. Additionally, she writes that “…weasel lives in necessity and we live in choice, hating necessity and dying at the last ignobly in its talons…” (120), distinguishing our way of living and that of the weasels. Unlike the weasel that acts for instant contentment, we rarely do things with respect to our wants but rather we focus more on what may happen in the future, that we are unsure of anyway, such that we end up failing to accomplish our reason for existence and die shameful deaths full of poverty and wrong decisions. Like weasels, we should learn to act towards our necessities to avoid living lives that matters not.

From her words, human nature would “... learn something of mindlessness, something of the purity of living in the physical sense and the dignity of living without bias or motive…” from a creature like weasel (Dillard 120).Weasels have a tendency of caring less about what may their future hold as they are free from pessimism and emotions. It is worth noting that we ought to use our emotions to make choices as we are a creation with both the ability to make decisions guided by our feelings and fears as well as according to individual values. However, we should learn to live a fearless life without exceedingly worrying about the impacts of our choices, rather than deliberately deciding to succumb to living a life full of fear.

According to Dillard, “…weasel lives in necessity and we live in choice…” indicates why we should learn how to live from these wild creatures. Living for necessity among the weasels enhances their survival as they literally know why they do what they do. Human nature lacks the art of prioritizing their needs as we are characterized with making choices among many alternatives of solutions available to address our problems. This is because most of our needs are well provided and therefore the art of prioritizing would not be common, not like the case of weasels which are obliged to fight for their satisfaction. We therefore should learn how to make decisions based on our need to solve and achieve our life’s goals. After we learn to prioritize our lives, living a life without regrets is what we should cultivate. For us to live in the manner that we wish like Dillard notes the nature of a weasel to live a “…open to time and death painlessly, noticing everything, remembering nothing, choosing the given with a fierce and pointed will...” life will grant us happiness (120). A weasel keeps no record of what happened in their life though it acknowledges either the dangers, preys, or their surroundings. We are however loaded with much regrets with respect to the events that introduced failure in our lives making it impossible to move on or adapt to changes. Happiness will only be derived if we will stop “remembering everything” that transpired in our past but rather focus on what is affecting us: now.

When we learn to forget our past mistakes and live happily, like weasels, we should not let go of what we believe in. Dillard describes a weasel as a creature that holds on to his prey, “…obedient to instinct, he bites his prey at the neck, either splitting the jugular vein at the throat or crunching the brain at the base of the skull, and he does not let go…” (120). When we hold to what we believe in there are no chances of regrets, and the result is a happy life. We have a tendency of not believing in ourselves unless a third party intervenes and therefore we should think of being self-dependent in our daily decisions. The author proposes that if we all make choices and stands by them, there are chances that we all would be successful, and this explanation for the increased rift between the haves and the haves not. It is worth noting that the weasel lives as they desires and they do not attack anything that comes their way. Similarly, human beings should learn not do things blindly or when they feel like doing so, otherwise we will ever be under the curse of not being free from the decisions we make.

In conclusion, our mind setting and the feelings around us should not be the determinants of our choices. Learning the way of living from any relevant source including wild animals is recommended for those that want to live happily and free from regrets. When one make the right and firm decisions, one lest assured that even death cannot separate him/her from the made choices.

Work cited

Dillard, Annie. "Living like weasels." One Hundred Great Essays (1982).