fight or flight: rationality or instinct

the other night, i was walking home unmindful of the rain. the only thing that i could think of was to reach home before the rain pour harder. probably that night was the only time that i remembered making those large steps.

when suddenly, i saw a thin black stray dog walking ahead of me. its head bowed down and tail almost reaching the ground. you could tell from the stance of it that it didn't like the rain as well. and its so helpless probably knowing that no barking could actually stop it.

i decided not to overtake the poor animal and shifted my focus to it. i was closely observing the dog as it tried, in its best effort, to squeeze to small openings or cracks of abandoned establishments along katipunan avenue.

until it reached a dark and abandoned pavement. it shook his entire body to remove the moist in its body. when suddenly something moved out of the darkness. it was a male vagrant who immediately woke up upon feeling those droplets as it touched his resting body.

the dog was also in surprise. but it seemed like it refuses to go somewhere else. nonetheless the vagrant was also determined not to give up the shelter, he first found. the dog began to bark. it showed off his teeth to pull out fear from the man. but the vagrant didn't show any sign of intimidation. instead, it tried looking for something in his dirty bag. until he drew out a long metal rod and swayed it to the thin air. the animal stepped back a little. while the vagrant was already standing. the entire scene drew out a number of audiences---passerbys slowed down from walking to witness the scene.

"a battle between man and animal began," i thought.

both of them were already doing the chachacha. until out of nowhere, the vagrant made a direct hit somewhere in the dog's nose. the animal cried and ran. tail already touching the ground again as a sign of defeat. probably. realizing that even his sharp inscisors were still useless against its opponent's ingenuity in utilizing its resources: to make use of almost anything as a form of defensive and offensice weapon.

but come to think of it, if you'll compare dogs and humans, it is undeniable that dogs still happen to have greater anatomical advantages than humans. it has sharper and longer teeth, has four feet that enables it to move faster than any olympic runner and long sharp claws that could easily slash human skin, and did i mention the rabies?

unfortunately, the dog didn't consciously know these. because its instinct and not rationality that drives it to decide and act. thus, it flee.

from here, i realized that our abbot in my cathecism class was probably correct when he said that its rationality that basically separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom.

until the next day, a friend woke me up thru text, telling me that she is pregnant and considering of having an abortion for the second time. then i began to ask myself again, is it really rationality above instict that distinguishes us as humans? or is it the other way around? or i just have a non-typical circle of friends?