Herd Mentality

A few days ago I was driving back from Ottawa. It was a nice afternoon: clear sky, beautiful sunset and grassy fields. I had the road pretty much to myself and was happily driving along in the soothing trancelike state that high speed and loud music inevitably conjure in me. Suddenly, something at the edge of my peripheral vision drew my eye. Up on a small ridge was a man, in jeans and baseball cap, jogging along. I was positive I hadn't passed a broken down car and the man's attire clearly ruled out any form of planned physical activity. Odd, I thought, but shrugged it off.

About 1 minute later I figured it out. There in front of me, in the middle of the right side lane was another jogger: a lovely young cow. I slowed down to a school zone level and carefully maneuvered around it. As I was passing it, I peered at its face, trying to gauge its expression. Was it excited that it had escaped? There was a bison ranch not far from there. Had the cow glimpsed the herd and surmised that the grass was greener across the road? Was it just running away from its jailer, not caring where it would end up? I wondered if it would be scared later, when the night fell, alone in unfamiliar surroundings. Would it regret leaving? I have a special place in my heart for cows. I like to think there was a happy ending for this particular specimen. A love affair with the Alpha bison, perhaps.

My runaway cow had me thinking for the rest of the trip. About life, about humans and what drives them. The parallel seemed pretty clear to me. A few people are running towards something. Many more are running from something. But the vast majority, I suspect, are just placidly running, not really knowing where they're going, not knowing why they're running in the first place and, saddest of all, not even wondering for an instant.