Department of Compassionate Services

A brief time ago in a land not unlike this one, lived a bear named Nod. Bears are compassionate animals and Nod was a most compassionate bear. Unlike most animals that have some empathy for others, bears have the active desire to alleviate another’s suffering. Bears express their social altruism in the Golden Rule, the first rule of bears, “Do for others, as you would wish them to do for you.” Not all animals follow the Golden Rule, but all animals suppose that they do. Over time the Golden Rule has become the basis of the social and ethical laws by which all animals live. Accordingly, the Rule creates an illusion of cooperation and freedom for all, where none exists. Like all young animals, Nod went to school; he learnt that six times six is thirty-six, that when water is solid it floats (the significance of which is not at first apparent), and of course he learnt the Golden Rule. Nod became an excellent member of his community, the true product of a good education. It is a widely held and common belief that the intention of school is to educate and teach small animals to become productive individuals. However, education is only a by-product of the purpose of school. The true purpose is to mould small animals into uniform citizens; to shape their minds with uniform ideas and uniform beliefs about the society they live in. Nod lived up to his promise; he followed the Golden Rule and he believed his lessons. But Nod was not a good student. He often wondered why, regarding the facts taught to him, and he wondered why, others did not wonder why. Though most animals understand that education is essential for any society to function; only a very few animals understand why. These few animals recognize the purpose of school is to slow an animals’ potential to control and manage its behaviour. Nod felt independent, strong and confident with his understanding of the world. Like Nod, ducks also felt independent, strong and confident with their understanding of the world. What a duck understands about the world and what a bear understands about the world are two very different things. Ducks have their own Rules; the first of which is “Imagination is the enemy of order.” In school, ducks label small animals with imagination, as trouble makers and put additional methods of control in place. Of course, the best part of any hegemony is that is not apparent to those within it. All animals so celebrate their individuality that they never really notice how they are being uniformly shaped, by the unseen Rules of the society around them. The last Rule of ducks is “Control is not always effective with bears.”