Animal Instinct

Here's how I tell whether a person is someone with the right qualities: if they don't like animals, it's a total dealbreaker for me. I've said more than once that, in general, I like most animals better than I like most people. And I think people's attitudes toward animals tells a lot about them. I am automatically suspicious of someone who doesn't have an affinity for animals. Lots of people, for a variety of very good reasons, may not have a pet in the house. But they can still be "animal people."

For the past couple of weeks I have been watching a pair of eagles raise three chicks in a nest high above a property in Iowa. There is a 24-hour live camera feed, and it is fascinating and wonderful. I work for a person who has, as near as I can tell, the bare minimum of empathy and humanity required to be an actual person. This person has absolutely no sense of humor (another dealbreaker for me) and a sense of personal entitlement that is truly staggering. What brought it home for me was when this person asked what I and a couple of coworkers were looking at online. When we explained about the eagles, it was dismissed with a flick of the hand and an "oh," and that was it. No interest whatsoever. To me, that demonstrates the worst side of a person.