Feral, used to describe animals that live or grow in
the wild after having been domestically reared or cultivated. Similar to, or typical, of a wild
animal.
The word feral used to
describe people, was new to me.
Among the Peace Corps community, in Malawi, it is used often to describe
a behavior that has been adapted during our time here. Some stories include fighting pigs for
food, having an animal eat your fecal matter, rescuing a goat from the hole in
the ground we use for a toilet, ‘having an accident’ aka pooping your pants as
an adult…preferably on public transport, etc. Now that I think about it, all the examples have to do with
food or feces. Which goes to show
what we discuss here…when we aren’t discussing the meaning of life.
It began when I ran out
of make-up, it continued when I started rationing shampoo/stopped washing my
hair, it escalated when my deodorant finished, it began to summit when there
was no option to purchase toilet paper in town, and it climaxed into my
personal “going feral” moment. I
was consuming milk powder only after I raked away the rat droppings. In defense of myself…powdered milk is a
luxury item in my morning coffee and I somehow convinced myself it wasn’t what
I knew it was.
Domesticate, to accustom an animal to living with or near
people, to accustom somebody to home life or housework, to cultivate plants or
raise animals, selectively breeding them to increase their suitability for
human requirements.
It feels as if the
society we are raised in is doing so much work to domesticate us. Domesticate us at home, at school, at
work for The Company, in our community, in our place of worship, in our
shopping, with our family, with our friends, with the stranger we sit next to
but don’t talk. We spend all this
time and money to adapt to our new manufactured environments. Losing our customs to be more
accustomed to what? For wealth,
for convenience, for health we have lost, for meaning we are too bored to
search for? We have domesticated
ourselves out of relationship, out of reality. And we demand others to
domesticate with us. I consider this two-year stint in the Peace Corps as
“going feral”. Maybe it is time we go feral. A return to our natural
environment is necessary, with a renewed desire to work to restore our
environment, our health, and ourselves.
I do look forward to some of the luxuries of domesticated living (hot
showers!) and fecal-less coffee. I
am cautious about returning to the domesticated life that consumes time and
resources that do not line up with my values.
Feral sounds like mange,
no couth, rabid living. But maybe
it is a return to simplicity.
Feral just may be a return to the natural habitat and as long as we take
more knowledge with us maybe it is a compulsory move. Living naturally with more wisdom, grace, and peace. Our domesticated lives prove to be as,
or more, brutal than the wild from which we came.
So what is the term that
describes someone who was domesticated, gone feral and about to return home? A
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV).
I’m coming home, soon.
