Defense Mechanisms

Author's Note: This is a content essay that I had to assign to myself. Mr. Roehl gave me the topic of Animal Defense Mechanisms and I had to go from there. I am, yet again, trying to have my essay on something other than my science topic and incorporate the science into it with it being the main focus. I wrote it about our defense mechanisms and compared them to animal defense mechanisms. I also tried to the use some syntactic devices I've never used before because I tend to use the same ones.

When you're tired, when you're sad, when you're feeling lonely, you long to be home. There is always an appeal to be in a warm and cozy place, where you don't have to worry about being judged. Our homes are our physical form of protection, they make us feel sheltered from the outside world. This is one of the many forms of protection we use to block ourselves from our pains, hardships, and worries; much like animals, we have our own forms of defense mechanisms.

Sometimes we just try to blend into the world, and conform to what everyone else is doing. In order to avoid ridicule, we try to disguise ourselves. If we just mind our own business and do what everyone else is doing, we think no one will see us.  For animals, this method would be called camouflage. Camouflage can be used by the prey and the predator. Sometimes the predator can try to blend into the environment to avoid being detected by the prey. As for the prey, they use their coloring to not be seen when the predators are around. Some animals are born with natural camouflage, others  are able to adjust according to their surroundings. As the iguana changes color to blend into it's habitat, we change our patterns of life to blend into what everyone else is doing.

In addition to blending into the world, we put up invisible shields to make us look like what we're not. Some people pretend to be rich by wearing the latest trends and fashions, but really deep down inside they are poor and are just looking for someone to notice them. We always look to deceive people by covering up our flaws and pretending to be someone with more authority. Trickery is one of the most interesting animal defenses because it takes intelligence. Animals sometimes mimic other animals that are higher in the food chain to try to frighten their predators, just as we do to the people around us.

When a rabbit sees a fox coming, its initial reaction is to run away. It's one of the most common defense strategies among animals -- and humans.  Usually our first thoughts are to flee from evil.  Though it's a good thing to run away from it, but you can't run forever. Just as we can't always run from our insecurities, the fox eventually will get the rabbit.

All animals and humans have their own forms of weapons. Animals' weapons can range from using their horns to fight other animals, to throwing up its stomach to scare the oncoming predator -- as the sea cucumber does. Our weapons can range from using our mouth to put down other people to actually physically hurting someone with our bodies. Some animals are born with features that make them undesirable for oncoming predators. For a turtle, its weapon is its shell, predators think it would be hard to sink their teeth into it, so they stay away from the turtle.

Which lead us to physical combat. Physical abuse is frightening, yet it happens everyday. In school, they call it bullying. Though, there is so many anti-bullying signs, committees, and assemblies it still goes on. The truth is, most of it is done because the bully feels insecure about themselves. Some people use other people to make them feel better about themselves; therefore, to protect themselves from being hurt, they put down other people. Though animals don't use physical combat for their insecurities, they do use it to hunt for food. Animals will sneak up on other animals and fight them using their weapons. Just like the porcupine's spikes are used to make battling another animal less difficult, we use our size and other features to make fighting someone easier.

Just as animals' defense mechanisms don't always keep the predators away from them, we can't always flee from our troubles, either. It is part of the natural life cycle that the bird gets the worm, and it is essential to our life that we go through hardships. We may have many defense mechanisms, much like animals do, but defense might not always be the best option. Sometimes, just taking the situation on with the right mind, minding what we know is right, and knowing whatever the outcome is we did the right thing, is the best way to go. It's the way we handle situations that make us who we are, not how we cover up our insecurities and protect ourselves.