The Animal

An animal has appeared. Out of nowhere. The almighty, savage and preposterous, it rushes freely, observing no limits. Rabid, furious and overfilled with rage, it easily breaks the laws of the society, bringing in its own order. Its disobedient deeds shock and terrify the innocent philistines, who are only due to grieve over the bygone days of business suits and courtseous utterances, reciprocal dissimulation and self-betrayal. Civility has wrecked. Peoples’ misunderstanding towards him is of no importance. Once demonstrated its wildness, the creature pours it into the basin of good manners. Gradually becoming aware of the irremediable calamity and treating it as doomsday, the crowd starts tossing around, as if a group of office clerks staying on a picnic have noticed a storm-cloud. The universal rush. Collective tremor begets collective scare. Like every person was once lost in breeding, though none realized that, now everyone is absorbed by the outward distress, and the animal, meanwhile, is savouring it complacently. People had forgotten about the creature; once having humiliated it, they dislodged him and made him hibernate. Now it is the right time for him to revenge.

Time has passed; people have got on with the animal, unwillingly having accepted its orders; the latter has abated its power and now, mute but prudent, it prowls across the befogged composure of obstinate but sluggish conservatism. The creature inhales some suspension, wondering if something wrong might happen. Relishing the fair sovereignty, why is there suspicion in the air? What can subdue the eternal preserving rebelliousness? Maybe a revolt? No, it can’t be so, because people should be still afraid of him, still he is a lord, though now assuaged, but preserving the cold-blooded control over the everyone.

How could it happen like that? A failure. A shameful, obtuse and thoughtless savouring of the triumph generated self-annihilating flippancy, and the people, again having transformed from a crowd to the system, summoned their strength due to extreme desperation with the help of intensive collective brainwork. Despite the innate submission and the constitutional bias towards being conducted, the sense of conservatism plays the leading role in restoring their former order. And now the power seems to be lost forever, the pleasing feeling of the authority has faded, and the only thing for the animal to do is to resist, though being aware of the inevitability of collapse. How mournful is to lose power, to reorganize the inner state of all-conquering confidence into vague distressing prospect of uncertainty – uncertainty of regaining power, of a draw result, of another existence, of being alive at all.

It is not easy to be an ex-lord. Even having chosen the way of resistance, the dignity is withering as the people are beating furiously with sticks in order to revenge. With each hit the animal sheds the energy of the self, while people are obtaining their complete satisfaction. Couldn’t they, having reestablished their cherished power, release the reminiscences of the days of wearisome depression and desperate servitude? Civility now has transmuted into the savageness, which results in the ruthless slaughter of the animal. And now the creature, expiring and feeble, understanding the cognate feelings of the crowd, makes no resistance to the unbearable physical pain it undergoes. And contemplating the fury around, the animal now is ready to die, despite the fury is aimed at it.

2007