The Penguin Lessons

by Tom Michell

That it should be the result of deliberate actions taken in the full knowledge of the likely consequences defied any kind of rationalization or acceptance.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

For her, the joy of the things she could do outweighed the woes of those she couldn’t.

‘I only want things that make me happy. So many people are captivated by things that can never make them happy!’

‘What makes you happy, then, Maria?’ ‘Oh, my children and my family make me happy, and my friends. Growing things makes me happy. Flowers on the tomatoes and the swelling fruit. The hens, the pigs and the goats make me happy. My work makes me happy, too.’ She paused and then said, ‘Growing older with the people I love makes me happy.’

How, in a world so full of astonishing beauty and priceless wonders, had humans devised so much misery, and not just for our own species?

the pain of parting is the toll demanded by Fate for all the joy brought to us by loved ones

There will come a time, I expect, when humans have learned enough about animal behaviour to realize that animals can communicate with us and each other to a far greater extent than we currently give them credit for and at that point this narrative will perhaps appear less fanciful. One day, I believe, we will be able to confirm that many animals have the capacity to understand and process information and experience emotions to a far more sophisticated degree than opinion currently holds.