Zhou the Walrus

Zhou was a walrus that lived in a zoo. He had strayed too far away from his homeland, and was captured by a whaler and sold to the zoo because the captain thought he was too majestic to be eaten. He was the only walrus in the zoo.

Everybody liked Zhou, especially the primates and the tortoises. He had nice stories to tell about his adventures and jokes about how he was "blubbly". Whenever any of the animals get depressed about life in the zoo, their good friends or family would bring them to talk to Zhou at night, and they would usually feel better about themselves.

There were times, however, when Zhou was unapproachable. Usually that was when he's in heat, or have a toothache. He usually had a toothache when he's 'heaty' - as in, in the traditional chinese medicine way. For example, when he had a toothache, or more specifically, a tuskache, one would hear him lamenting to the skies, wailing, "Whhhhy does the heavens give me such big teeth? My face is small, unlike the elephants, and I don't even a trunk, let alone hands, to clean them and take care of them. Ohhh... I am so miserable.

"Whhhhy does the heavens give me such big teeth? When it has willed for me to be enclosed in this dreaded zoo. There are no ladies here for me to impress with my teeth. Ohhh... I am so miserable."

Usually, when everybody heard the walrus wailing, they would stay away, as they were afraid of being scolded or chided by the heaty and angry walrus. They have experienced being in heat or toothaches before, and they know how irrational that makes them, so they kept away or kept their children away.

The next door couple of seals, however, had a little pup. One day, when the seals were out performing, the walrus was complaining, the pup did not know better and asked, "Uncle Zhou, my mother said everybody comes to you with their troubles, but why are you complaining about your teeth like how everyone complains about life?"

Looking at the cute and impressionable seal pup, Zhou thought it was important to explain, so he spoke to the pup softly,

"Little pup. I am only a walrus, and like everybody else, I am a subject of the heavens and fate and time. When I feel a toothache, I will feel like being complaining, so I complain. To complain is part of the joy of having a toothache.

"Little pup, it is important, however, when one is complaining, to know what one is complaining for. Complaining is for the better enjoyment of the experience. It is like, part of enjoying summer is to sit around to complain about the heat; and part of enjoying in winter is to huddle around and complain about the cold."

"My mother always tells me to appreciate the heat of the summer by remembering how cold it was in winter, and to appreciate the cool of winter by remembering how hot it was in summer," said the pup.

"Yes, it is very important to be appreciative of the present moment in your heart. That is basically how one is able to enjoy the present moment. When you complain without basic appreciation, then you will be miserable. If you are miserable without basic appreciation, then it is a waste of perfectly good misery.

"It is like, to complain about being in a zoo, is part of the joy of being in a zoo, only if one appreciates that he can sit around complaining about the zoo, instead of say, fleeing from predators or hunting for prey. Without appreciation, there will not be enjoyment, if there is no enjoyment, one is merely wasting the space he takes up."

The pup cocked his head to a side and did not understand everything fully, and said, "Well, anyway, Uncle Zhou, if it would make you feel better, I am impressed with your big teeth. I think it makes you look cool. When I grow up, I want to have teeth like yours too, but my mother said seals won't have big teeth... I'm thinking, I can help you clean your teeth, since you said you have problems cleaning it with your flippers, and maybe if I am close to your teeth often enough, it will help me get big teeth too."

"Gee. Now, I will have to find something else to complain about," said the walrus.