Exploring characteristics of a virtuous person
One of the privileges I had when working as a director for the park district was that the executive offices were actually within the zoo grounds (part of the park district’s authority). You can imagine what a nice lunch alternative it was from drive-thru fast food to enjoy a hot dog and a root beer while walking through the cheetah exhibit or gorilla display.
To my delight, my lunch time was also break time for some of the zookeepers, and we would often sit together watching the animals while the keepers explained certain behaviors and habits of the menagerie. I learned many things, and one day I observed that some of the animals seemed bored as they lay on their backs, paws to the sky, basking in the sun. One of the keepers explained that such a posture was the animals being completely relaxed rather than bored. He explained that, in the wild, no animal is typically comfortable enough to lie in such a vulnerable, unguarded position. The keeper said it takes years for an animal to feel comfortable enough and safe from possible attack before relaxing enough to trust the peace of his “private” enclosure.
