Apparently, Koko the gorilla is a happy camper. Koko, capable of sign language, has a vocabulary of 1,000 words, is fed regularly, has pet cats, and knows the trainer well. It’s been a happy life. No so for Koku. Koku Istambulova is 128 years old and says her longevity is a punishment. In fact, according to a report in the Mirror, she “hasn’t enjoyed a single happy day in her life.”*
What’s wrong with this picture. A happy gorilla and a sad human. Is that our lot?
“Well, no,” you say. “I’m happy, well not all the time but most of the time or at least half the time, and I would be happy all the time if it weren’t for all the interference by people. People. Humpf. Can’t be happy without them; can’t be happy with them.”
Poor Koku. She’s had a hard life. Lots of tragedy, including exile. But think about her life, lived by the way rather simply and centered in her garden. All her woes have come from the outside. Left alone, she might have been as happy as Koko in her cage.
Now, there’s a thought. Koko is essentially a prisoner, a caged animal. And that’s about all that Koko has known, living in a cage and being trained in sign language since she was one. She’s been in a prison school. But there have been advantages. Food for one, medicine for another. Chances are that in the wild gorillas don’t have access to Rite Aid or CVS or a vet. At night she makes herself a nest as her uncaged distant relatives do in the forest. One could say she tends her cage and is happy to do so.
Back to Koku. From childhood on she’s lived through wars, displacement, and poverty. She’s recently lost her daughter who was over 100. Geez. I can’t comprehend it. Can you? Well, if you’re old, maybe.
I just can’t get over Koku’s statement that she hasn’t enjoyed a single happy day in her life. And then I think of wimpy youths crying over their poor state of affairs as they wear their wealth in ever-new fashions and carry their wealth in high tech objects too numerous to mention. Lord, will they still be wimpy if they live to be 128? Probably. Wimpiness is a cage in itself, a self-imposed one.
Well, at least Koku is articulate. And she can still hear. At 128 she has her faculties. She has her garden, and she says it is her solace. Maybe she’s following Voltaire’s advice at the end of Candide: “Tend your garden.”
*The Mirror online: “Oldest living person ever at 128' wishes she had died young and says her longevity is ‘a punishment.’ Koku Istambulova says she hasn't enjoyed a single happy day in her life and has ‘no idea’ how she has lived so long.”https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/oldest-living-person-ever-128-12543657
What’s wrong with this picture. A happy gorilla and a sad human. Is that our lot?
“Well, no,” you say. “I’m happy, well not all the time but most of the time or at least half the time, and I would be happy all the time if it weren’t for all the interference by people. People. Humpf. Can’t be happy without them; can’t be happy with them.”
Poor Koku. She’s had a hard life. Lots of tragedy, including exile. But think about her life, lived by the way rather simply and centered in her garden. All her woes have come from the outside. Left alone, she might have been as happy as Koko in her cage.
Now, there’s a thought. Koko is essentially a prisoner, a caged animal. And that’s about all that Koko has known, living in a cage and being trained in sign language since she was one. She’s been in a prison school. But there have been advantages. Food for one, medicine for another. Chances are that in the wild gorillas don’t have access to Rite Aid or CVS or a vet. At night she makes herself a nest as her uncaged distant relatives do in the forest. One could say she tends her cage and is happy to do so.
Back to Koku. From childhood on she’s lived through wars, displacement, and poverty. She’s recently lost her daughter who was over 100. Geez. I can’t comprehend it. Can you? Well, if you’re old, maybe.
I just can’t get over Koku’s statement that she hasn’t enjoyed a single happy day in her life. And then I think of wimpy youths crying over their poor state of affairs as they wear their wealth in ever-new fashions and carry their wealth in high tech objects too numerous to mention. Lord, will they still be wimpy if they live to be 128? Probably. Wimpiness is a cage in itself, a self-imposed one.
Well, at least Koku is articulate. And she can still hear. At 128 she has her faculties. She has her garden, and she says it is her solace. Maybe she’s following Voltaire’s advice at the end of Candide: “Tend your garden.”
*The Mirror online: “Oldest living person ever at 128' wishes she had died young and says her longevity is ‘a punishment.’ Koku Istambulova says she hasn't enjoyed a single happy day in her life and has ‘no idea’ how she has lived so long.”https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/oldest-living-person-ever-128-12543657
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