HIDING THE EVIDENCE!

Humans are strange creatures. We are no more that occasionally intelligent animals but, for a variety of reasons, we tend to hide those things which are a natural part of our animality.

Take breastfeeding. In America, according to Reuters, a woman received compensation from a store after she was stopped from feeding her child in their showroom. She was told she was causing embarrassment to the other patrons. Breastfeeding is embarrassing! For whom? And what about the embarrassment caused to the mother who was simply attending to the needs of her child?

Of course there are other functions which all of us engage in every day which are also hushed up, hidden behind locked doors where, in small rooms, sanitised white tiles and patterned paper and exhaust fans and deodorisers prevail.

Perhaps it derives from the fact that we really don't want to confront ourselves, admit to what we really are. When two dogs mate on a public street it tends to cause discomfort, averted eyes. In Western nations, our own messy coupling is hidden behind lacy curtains, locked doors, and inevitably there is an ensuite close by with plenty of hot water and fragrant soap and thick, soft white towels.

Perhaps if we accepted what we are we might all get along better, lose some of our false airs and graces, our unfounded arrogance!