Bo

Here we go! This second day will be easy.

And how was your first night camping? I hope you slept well.

Mi

I didn’t sleep that well with all the noises. It’s fascinating to hear so much life going on at night despite the complete darkness.

Ré

It’s clearly not the city! And how well did our Flo sleep last night? I hope it wasn’t too hard.

Flo

You said it! The ground makes for a very hard bed ...

Ben

For my part, I did find the night very restful. The sound of the river gently carried me to sleep.

Ki

The river is very calm here, and the scenery is fantastic!

Bo

Oh! Look there! A gou ... It caught a fish ...

This is a rare sight. These are such shy animals that it must not have seen us coming. Let’s keep a good distance.

Ben

Nice! We can witness nature at its simplest. The gou hunts and sleeps; nothing else worries it.

Bo

It’s not that simple, Ben! The gou is a fierce predator that must fight for its territory; many animals compete in this environment. That said, its more deadly fights are with other gous.

Ben

It reminds us of what we are at our roots.

Mi

We are not animals, Ben! We created complex societies and established rules, codes, and laws that govern us. We don’t have to fight. We have technologies to produce our foods — we don’t have to kill to feed ourselves.

Flo

This is not exactly true, Mi. If we were to lose our provisions while we’re here, we would have no other choice than to hunt too.

Ben

In fact, Mi, the society you refer to is artificial. I grant it serves us well, but we need to remember that away from it, we are animals like this gou.

Ré

More than that, the rules and laws serve society in general. For those who build and lead that society, it’s the jungle! At my level of leadership, I need to fight fiercely for us to survive; it’s the survival of the fittest. One of my greatest responsibilities is to protect you from that jungle. Life is safe and secure for you because we, the leaders, are creating this reality of yours. For us, it’s a completely different story!

Mi

That’s not true, Ré! The leaders are also governed and protected by our institutions.

Ré

You’re naïve, Mi! We’re writing and changing those rules as we please. Our enemies can bypass them and crush us. It’s because they fear us that they don’t. This is the pressure we, the leaders, have on our shoulders every day.

Ki

The art of such a fight is to be merciless while giving the impression that we respect the rules. It’s all in the communication. It’s because of people like me that the system holds together. We need to make sure that all continue to believe in it.

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