Op-Ed
Sharing the Spoils
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Gain Through Loss
March 28, 2007 - 1:00amIn the open, grassy plains of East Africa, a pack of jackals hit the jackpot.
A massive elephant lies motionless on its side, the hot noon sun beating down on its large folds of thick leathery skin. Its muscular trunk lay curled up on the plain, and, covered in sun-baked mud, a fragment of its large ivory tusk is revealed.
The jackals approach carefully. Unsure of the state of the elephant, they cautiously circle the beast, gingerly tiptoeing so as to not awake the giant from its slumber. One of the jackals bravely snaps at the elephant’s head. No response. The jackals rigorously study the elephant; its abdomen ceases to rise and fall, its tail is motionless and it fails to respond to the testing yelps the jackals cry out. After several minutes, it becomes clear that the elephant is dead. 
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Almost at once, the pack of jackals pounce, tearing through the surface of the elephant’s rugged hide. Blood begins to darken their snouts as they bury themselves deeper and deeper into the elephant’s abdomen, ripping and gnawing past layers of skin and bones to reach the meat. In the midst of their feast, the jackals suddenly begin to turn against each other, barking and biting at one another to protect their share of the spoils. At first, the two largest jackals team up against the others, snarling and flashing their bloody fangs, driving the others away from the elephant. But then, the two jackals turn on each other. Bathed in blood they tumble across and around the elephant, clawing and nipping at each other until a compromise is reached — they decide to feast from different ends of the beast. For days they continue to gorge on the elephant until they are bloated, intermittently barking and cackling at the other jackals who have now been rendered mere spectators. Though fully satisfied, the two largest jackals continue to deny their smaller counterparts access to the meat, even as it begins to go rancid.
We are often left in awe of the barbaric, aggressive and self-seeking behavior of wild animals. While many wild animals have demonstrated an ability to live in a harmonious community, scavengers such as jackals still live in a winner-take-all, every-jackal-for-himself world, going so far as to kill their own young to protect their social and biological interests. As humans capable of advanced and rational thought, empathy and compassion, it is plainly clear to us that a pack of adult jackals, weighing about 30 pounds each, could comfortably feast on a 12,000 pound elephant in a more peaceful and equitable manner.
But when it comes to just how to live peaceful and equitable lives, the jackals might not want our help. In fact, keeping our eyes open for long enough might make it apparent that most of mankind is doing far worse than the jackals.
It is well beyond argument that as a species, humans have enough material resources not only to feed, but also clothe, shelter and educate every living individual on Earth. Beyond that, we have the capacity to improve healthcare, fight major diseases and clean up the environment. That such resources and capabilities exist is not a Utopian fantasy — it is a reality about which there is little debate.
However, somewhere we have gone terribly wrong. And unfortunately, we have become too comfortable with the current state of affairs to do much about it.
Our planet is recklessly dividing into two distinct worlds: a privileged world, filled with abundance, luxury and material excess; a deprived world, filled with declination, poverty and struggle. Years ago these worlds could be easily divided along national boundaries. However, we increasingly see insulated pockets of wealth surrounded by expanding spheres of deprivation. This Darwinian landscape is supported by our rapidly deteriorating ideologies. The selfish acquiring of luxuries and material goods, once seen as a moral problem, has evolved into a principal goal and marker of success and, in industrialized nations, is now seen as a deserved right of the working class.
We need drastic change. We must understand that the same people, ideologies, policies and –isms that got us into this mess cannot get us out. Current policies — politically-infected and tied to sponsors’ pocketbooks — are self-seeking, unsustainable and topical at best. From the inside out, the system needs major surgery.
Our eyes must be opened. This can’t happen when news programs like World News Tonight, ABC’s flagship primetime news series, devote 22 minutes to Darfur and 23 minutes to Anna Nicole’s custody battle in the last 12 months. Before we expect anyone to invest in the problem, we must be able to show the world a detailed and thorough panorama of atrocities and injustices until it becomes undeniably clear that a major crisis exists.
Our minds and hearts need to be fixed. We need to expel the poisonous venom that says “it’s not my problem” or “we have our own problems.” No one who has held the hand of a starving child or spent a few nights in an air-raid shelter with teenagers could be that dismissive.
Our feet must move. Mobilization of information, resources and policies which aim to build a sustainable change must occur. Politics and self-interests need to be slain.
Samuel Johnson said, “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” If we were to measure mankind’s progress against such an honest ruler, we might find ourselves on the same page as the jackals. Fortunately, we are unlike the jackals in that we are a rational, empathetic and compassionate species. If, as a corporate body, we can begin to become gravely uncomfortable and intolerant with the current state of affairs and begin to share the spoils, there might just be hope for a peaceful and equitable world.
Behzad Varamini is a graduate student in Nutritional Sciences. He can be reached at bv29@cornell.edu. Gain Through Loss appears alternate Wednesdays.