some thoughts on discomfort

Animals don't carry backpacks or purses, or have plastic storage totes in their homes and dens. Are we not animals? I carry so much shit with me. I got a backpack full of books and food and spoons and a towel for the sauna. It's fucking cold here, I got to wear thick clothes to stay warm. I have no fur or claws. although I'm amazed at what I can do with my fingernails, and my hands are adapted to use tools and to manipulate my environment. Animals don't carry water bottles, but I do? I once saw a photograph of a group of men running with only spears and loincloths, they were a group form an African tribe and  they traveled form village to village like this, running, stopping to drink water from streams. they didn't need a raincoat, or a Camelback water pouch. they could run for miles, their ancestors hunted without spears, by running down an animal and eating it out of the carcass. with their teeth and their hands. I like tools, they make life easier and they certainly make it more comfortable. I saw a dog the other day, chained up in the back yard in the snow, it was certainly very cold despite its fur. It was sitting on the porch so it wouldn't get wet in the snow. It wanted to go inside. It occurred to me that animals aren't perfectly evolved to be comfortable in any environment, they get too hot, or too cold, all the time constantly, and have no tools except for their own bodies to alleviate that discomfort or pain. But they endure it constantly. and happily. and we were once like that, not so long ago either, so that we as men, and as animals, still have the capability to survive great hardships, to adapt to new situations, and to accomplish more than we think we can.