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Meet the nutria
Well first let me introduce the humble nutria. There's a picture of it below. Its related to the beaver.
This animal lives right outside my house, in a
pond. Anyways this little guy just paddles around in the
pond all day. Sometimes he crawls through the wetlands.
He doesn't worry about the size of his car. Hasn't even got
a car. Just appreciates life.And that's what this article is about: how we can all find our inner nutria.
There are so many books today about "how to intimidate people" or "how to enhance your productivity". These books all assume that there is something wrong with you. Why aren't you intimidating people? Well nutria don't intimidate people! Nutria enjoy interacting with other nutria. They like to help other people out. That's the nutria lifestyle.
So this book is all about how to find your inner nutria. In this fast paced world, how do we slow down? How do we relax and appreciate what we have?
Chapter 2 will outline general nutria philosophy. This is the heart of the book, and will deserve detailed study.
The next chapters will get into living in this world. Chapter 3 will study the nutria at work. We will look at good career choices for nutria. Also, we will study napping with an emphasis on napping at work. Napping is essential to the nutria lifestyle. Chapter 4 will discuss other nutria lifestyle tips. This includes taking oatmeal baths, and reading the newspaper. In Chapter 5, we will interview several nutria and non-nutria, and learn about their lifestyle choices.
General nutria philosophy
Nutria concepts
The nutria is fundamentally a peace-loving animal. Nutria like to live in harmony with the world.
The favorite activities of the nutria are paddling around and taking little naps. You will often find a nutria in a bookstore, library, or coffeehouse. Nutria particularly like to read newspapers, especially on Sundays.
Some people call nutria lazy. This is an important issue. There are some people who are "type A" individuals. Certainly, nutria are not this type of individual. It's true that you will often find nutria taking little naps. However, this really doesn't imply that nutria are lazy. Nutria are known for their creativity and independence. Many artists, scientists, and writers have philosophies consistent with the nutria. While they are napping, often they come up with great ideas! So, we can see that nutria are really not lazy.
Some people are indeed lazy. They spend a lot of time watching TV. Their careers are kind of boring, and they are generally unmotivated. These people are not considered nutria. However, perhaps if they study, they can move up to nutria class!
Dealing with non-nutria
One of the toughest things for a nutria is to date a non-nutria, or to have family that are not nutria. This section is written for the nutria who is faced with this problem- or for the non-nutria, who is close to a nutria.
Often, non-nutria will try to motivate nutria. This can be accomplished by waking them up at 7AM on a Saturday morning. This is never a good idea! The fact is that nutria need their little naps.
As in everything, there has to be balance. With sufficient motivation, nutria can climb mountains! This, however, would be a rare event.
Claws of the nutria
This section will be a little controversial. The problem is clear. Nutria are friendly, peace-loving animals. They enjoy helping people and work well with others. So, what do nutria do when others try to take advantage of them? In this world, people are always trying to take advantage of us- in the workplace, in the business enviroment, and in our personal lives.
Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy was that of non-violence, of disobedience. This is an admirable philosophy, but there are not many nations in the world that practice it. India's soldiers have guns, and their military has nuclear weapons.
The fact is that the nutria cannot afford to be a tasty treat for predators. The nutria must defend itself when attacked. This philosophy is similar to that of karate: strictly a theory of self-defense. In practice, we note that self-defense may sometimes involve offensive strikes. So how is a nutria any different from a non-nutria? The nutria's primary objective is peace, and the nutria tries to attain the highest level of ethical behavior.
Our first example comes from a woman, Anna, at her workplace. Here is what she says:
John and I were hired at the same time. I was better at my job than he was, but that was okay. They asked me if I wanted to become head of the department, but I declined. I thought it would be too much work, and besides, I didn't think it was right for me to be John's boss. Anyways, apparently John had no such reservations. He took the job, and became my boss. He was happy with the added prestige, but I was not happy working under him.
In this example, we can see that Anna was passive. By being nice, she allowed herself to be taken advantage of. From a nutria perspective, what was the correct move? The answer here is that nutria cannot be passive players. Just because you are a nutria doesn't mean that you let people take advantage of you. So go ahead, buy a copy of, "How to move up the career ladder". If you want to be in the business world, you have to play by the well known rules. The only caveat is that nutria genrally play a defensive role.
Here is another example, from a woman named Isabelle:
I looked at apartments and found one that I liked. They had a model on display that looked good. I put down my $500 deposit. Then, a couple of days later, I moved all my stuff into my apartment. Turned out, the model was a lot better than the one that they gave me. Mine had rats and roaches. When I complained, they refused to return my deposit. I was mad, but there was nothing that I could do. I left and found another apartment.
So in this case, Isabelle got taken advantage of. Since nutria prefer to avoid confrontation, she left without getting her $500 deposit. Yes, nutria prefer to avoid confrontation. But on the other hand, nutria will exercise their rights.
And now I'd like to turn to an example of the state of Israel. By the way, I'm using Israel as an example- but I could equally well use the United States as an example.
Israel is a small nation, often under attack by her neighbors. Now, Israelis pride themselves on their ethics. Israel is a democratic country, with laws and ethics. However, Israel has a strong army. Israeli soldiers are as tough and well-trained as any other army in the world. They try to avoid war, but when war comes, Israel will not flinch.
There have been controversy over the tactics of the Israeli security agency, the Shin Bet. It seems that Israelis have been accused of torturing their prisoners. They would tie the prisoners up with burlap bags over their heads, and deny them food and sleep.
On the positive side, Israel tries to avoid civilian casualties. Israeli hospitals often offer medical care regardless of race or nationality. Often, suicide bombers are given premium medical care right next to those who they have injured.
This behavior is quite consistent with the nutria philosophy. Try to avoid war, and seek peace. Try to seek the highest ethical standard. But if war comes, the nutria must be able to fight as effectively as those who attack it. The nutria may even have to use tactics that are morally questionable. This is part of living in the world that we live in. The nutria cannot afford to be a soft furry animal- at least not all the time. The nutria must be strong and tough. These are the claws of the nutria.