Do You Wrestle With Pigs?

 

Wrestle with the pigs?  Yes.

What happens if you do? “You both get dirty, and the Pig likes it.” George Bernard Shaw. 

Would anyone do that? Most of us do.  

Why would anyone do that? Well, it is in our nature to do that. Despite my resolve not to, I almost got into the pit yesterday.  

My school had a piggery. The place had an offensive stink that reached far beyond its walls. It was there that I saw pigs for the first time. The piglets looked cute, ate a lot, and grew up into huge pink pigs. I knew they would end up on our plates sometime and felt bad for them. Nevertheless, I relished pork.  

One fine day, I came across George Orwell’s all-time classic, The Animal Farm, and read it. Unaware that the book was a political satire about the Russian Revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union, it led me to consider pigs as ruthlessly manipulative, cunning, and wily. I visited the piggery once or twice after that and tried to identify Napoleon the antagonist, Snowball the idealist and Squealer the propaganda pig.  My initial understanding of the idiom, “wrestle with the pigs”, was built around the character they played in the book. Growing up, I lost interest in pigs, but my appetite for pork grew.  It took me a few more years to understand what the idiom meant and where it could be used.  

Travelling to my workplace from where I lived, I had to cross this area (since everybody is easily offended these days, let me keep the name of the place under wraps) where people, oblivious to others around, nonchalantly squatted, smoking and shitting. They, while defecating in the open, even talked to each other as if they were on some social platform. While the area was filled with people defecating in the morning, there was always someone in the act at any time of the day. The pigs were always there, working around people, openly defecating. I have seen pigs even sleeping there. The picture made the idiom, “wrestling with the pigs”, more than clear. I would never, even in my worst dreams, want to wrestle with a pig! Yet, I almost did it yesterday. 

I was driving home from Chenganoor. Since Gods and saints now need people to come out onto the roads and make their presence felt, there was a religious procession on the road. Filled with divine thoughts and assured of no consequences, some of these people can easily be provoked to become violent. I slowed down and stopped my car to the side, giving way for the procession to pass by. Behind me, there were a few vehicles patiently waiting and surprisingly not honking. The procession passed by without any incident. Behind the line of devotees were a few vehicles. One was a lady on a scooter. “If you are scared of getting your car grazed, travel by bus,” she commented, as my car inched slowly forward. She was obviously angry with me for having exercised age-driven caution. The temptation to wrestle with the pig (no physical comparison meant) was intense and immediate. I got angry and retorted.  

There is a thin line between sanity and insanity, and I quickly regained composure, at least externally and walked out of the pit into which I had jumped to wrestle. I could have easily ignored her, but I was easily provoked. Throughout the drive thereafter, I kept analysing my folly. On one side, I was angry with the lady and wished I had given her a suitable reply. I wish I had wrestled. On the other hand, I was happy that I saved myself from giving in to the urge to get dirty.  

There are a lot of people around with so much pent-up anger and dissatisfaction that they want to spill it at the first possible opportunity. They move around with their putrid garbage, ready to be dumped on anyone at the first possible instant. That lady might have had a bad day, but mine was beautiful till then. I had been enjoying some amazing times over the three days before it. Yet by impulse, I was drawn to the pit.  Most of us are tempted to respond immediately to the slightest provocation. Letting anyone go scot-free from what we think they have done wrong could be a difficult proposition for many of us. But then that is precisely what the pigs demand. The very fact that you engage with them is a victory for them, irrespective of the result of the engagement. They are in there not for a decision on the matter of right or wrong, but purely for getting someone to dump their muck and dirtying those willing to engage with them. I almost fell for it.

Closer to ourselves, we can see this in action every day. One only has to look at various WhatsApp groups that we are part of.  You can see this phenomenon at work. Look at some heated discussions. One can find many in the pit trying to wrestle in futility, making it difficult to distinguish who controls the fight.  We can also see roles shift at random, and the conflict ends only with everyone involved getting soiled, and some sitting by the pit enjoying the fight.

On the drive back, or what was left of it, I promised myself not to fall for the bait pigs set up. I also vowed to myself never to become a pig for others, for unknowingly, we also could end up being the pigs.

PS: The Picture is Grok-generated