The Camel

Camels roam the lands and desert from the borders of Europe and the foothills of the Himalayas, to the far African plains, always accompanied by humans. They can be seen resting on shady coves and beside watering holes. Most people mistakenly think that camels are not smart. I think this comes from the way they chew. Camels chew slowly. And, like Goats, cows, and sheep. They grind their food against their upper jaw because, of course, they have no upper teeth. For this reason, all the animals who eat like this remind us of old people who have lost their teeth and must mash their food and gum it.

Camels chew slowly, one might say deliberately, but a closer look seems to prove this false. Because of this we call them lazy. They have straw hanging out of their mouth most of the day.
I think the way we think of camels as dumb, shiftless and lazy comes from the way we have been taught to view people. When we are growing up, we are raised with images that small children with long grasses dangling from their lips in countryside are lazy, maybe shiftless. Or old men, who chew and spit loudly, “Tang!” into deep metal spittons, like my grandfather Norman did after he moved West to California, acting determined to waste time (and health) with nothing more than machismo fraternity, act lazy.

I must debate these old ideas. People need breaks, camels needs break. We all need to rest. And, if a child chewing straw is their way of signifying to themselves or to others - rest, retreat, solace - then it is as it should be. Have you ever seen a camel work? They carry enormous loads. And if you take a good look at a camel, look at its knees and stringy long legs. Carrying a hump or two of water would be hard enough, carrying the rest of their body would be extremely difficult. Carrying anything extra, humans, loads of wood, goods to market, would be awfully tiring. So camels must rest. And that is the funniest thing you have ever seen, camels at rest. All of that weight, and funny neck, and lankiness somehow shrinks down onto the boney fragile knees of this great beast; and, somehow, it manages to tuck all those miles of legs beneath itself.