There survives in each

and every one of us,

a tiny reptile brain,

that lived a cold and loveless life

upon an ancient plain,

perfecting through the ages

a simple tryptic rule -

friend or food or foe.

 

From time to time

its voice is heard,

ancient and primeval

reducing life's morality

to personal survival -

to life instead of honor.

 

It does not think or love or hate

has no sense of value

beyond the logic of the swamp.

 

What's not the same, or edible,

gets the only label left.

 

"Nature, Mr. Alcott, is what we were put upon this earth to rise above"

Katherine Hepburn in "African Queen"