Wow! More great threading and flaming on line. After reading and
enjoying everyone's thoughts and feelings I presented this topic to my
students of fourth and fifth graders. Truly fascinating. We started with
pets and responsible owners. Aside from killing the owners, they
suggested education as the key to controlling the overpopulation and
abuse of owners. They worked there way off each other's comments to a
discussion about the "human" animal, which was exciting to them. They
enjoyed the "wild" aspect of their own species, and started talking about
the "pet" or "tamed" aspect of the human specie. They loved the humor
which this brought about. The comment about humans becoming less wild, as
compared to relations to primates and the cave or grassland nomads, and
our jealously of wild animals and their freedom was intriquing. They just
keep going on their own thread. The homo sapiens, with increased
intelligence and less "wildness" are more wasteful and annoying than the
simple wild animals. And of course, how could they not end up talking
about how "we" humans put ourselves above "them" wild animals. We are
becoming alienated or less wild as a species, and they wondered about
other animals communicating to each other. If they communicate like we do
in the content and way we express to each other.

Thanks for the "wild" and "tame" discussion, tweeters. The kids unwound
the thread a bit more, and gave us permission to "communicate" like the
human specie so rarely does. If I may share a poem we discussed for the
week.

For Poets by Al Young

Stay beautiful
but dont stay down underground too long
Dont turn into a mole
or a worm
or a root
or a stone

Come on out into the sunlight
Breathe in trees
Knock out mountains
Commune with snakes
& be the very hero of birds

Dont forget to poke your head up
& blink
Think
Walk all around
Swim upstream

Dont forget to fly.