the faith of lemmings

Everybody knows about the lemming thing. On the off chance you have managed to avoid popular culture for the past 50 years or so, I'll summarize: lemmings jump off of cliffs. It is said that nobody knows why, except that it is some kind of mass hysteria/small rodent cult-like thing. Lemming is used in a similar way as sheep --an animal that is incapable of thinking for itself. Lemmings kick it up a notch by adding in mass suicide, which appears to be counter to their own survival.

Here's the issue: the lemming thing isn't actually true. Not really.

Walt Disney made a wildlife documentary called "White Wilderness", released in 1958. Apparently, the wildlife wasn't wild enough and the filmmakers got creative with their staging. It was filmed in a landlocked area rather than near the sea, which is the lemmings' native habitat; it featured brown lemmings, but claimed they were Norwegian lemmings; and (my favorite detail) they dumped the lemmings out of the back of a truck and allowed them to drown. Not one of Disney's finest moments.

Lemmings --real ones --live happy little rodent lives avoiding predators, snacking on what's available on the tundra, and making little lemmings. They have been known to jump in the water to get from a place with no food to a place with food, but only when they are starving and that is their one chance at survival. When they do this, some of them actually make it to the other place that has food. It is not a blind faith; it is taking chances when chances need to be taken.

Which brings us back to the myth of the lemming and people. People can be like lemmings sometimes, and it's no insult. They have been known to jump in the water to get from a place with no food to a place with food, but only when they are starving and that is their one chance at survival. When they do this, some of them actually make it to the other place that has food. It is not a blind faith; it is taking chances when chances need to be taken.

It is okay to enjoy bounty when you have access to it. It is okay to seek bounty when it is scarce. There is no shame in trying to survive, and so, there is no shame in having the faith of lemmings.