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A tiger is kept encaged in a zoo, safe for his life and should be thankful to humanity and our morality... But why do we need to encage him, even if it's within a wildlife preserve...

We've decided it to be so... I remember a time, not personally but figuratively, I remember a time, when we humans would look up to these ferocious animals, look at them and see the image of glory and strenght personified. A regal aura upon them which crowned them kings of nature, bourgeois of the wild, citizens of the world...

Now, we mark them, we spot them, we view them for our own amusement. We pity them and we train them to obey us... We've decided, we're the superior ones... But with what? With weapons, not even our own personal arsenal. We have no scales to protect us, no four feet to provide great stability and speed, we have no natural physical prowess in comparison to animals, we have little difference in how a monkey can use a tool, we have no thick hide or fat to keep us alive, nor large sources of water for us to survive the harsh region. No fur to keep us away from the cold and no regulated system in our body to protect us from the heat as well as other animals.

We are the red mages of the videogames, we're a bit touchy on everything, but we're no good at anything specific. The biggest advantage we have is our mind, with only the dolphins comming close on us in terms of actual intelligence and monkeys in abilities.

So we've got opposable thumbs... Wooptidoo, monkeys can still whack you with a branch in their feet instead of their hands. A crocodile can still clamp down on you at full speed and break your bones like it was a toothpick. An elephant can still trample you down with great speed and wreak that beloved car of yours.

We used to admire them, we used to try to mimic them, where do you think martial arts comes from? Oh sure, we can aquire physical prowess, but that's through training. In either a style of martial art which often copies animals, or a style which we humans fully developped... Though I get the feeling that the newer styles will never compare to the old. True masters of the old martial arts do not fight for show, and to that, we may never actually know the entire capacity of it's trade.
(( Hey, from what my family tells me, my gramps used to be a master at martial arts, could jump three stories just fine, that's from what my family tells me anyways... ))

The newer martial arts are made for brute power... Or for stylish look or for fitness. The old arts, based off the animals, could sway your blows away, could use your own strenght against yourself, could charge forward with a flurry of blows to knock you down, could patiently wait and strike into your most vital organs and put you down in one blow... These styles were so powerful, they could destroy your inner organs without causing the lightest of bruises to your skin.

The rules of rock paper scissors also came from martial arts. The first, or rock, made to destroy the bones and the body. The paper, easiest to see are palm strikes, made to destroy the inner organs and the deadliest of the arts. The scissors, often seen as very very deadly pokes, made to pierce through your defense and strike your weaknesses.

I think I'm heading towares silly slowly bit by bit... Well, we made ourselves master of the jungle without actually utilizing the strenghts which nature provided us... But rather with the strenght we provided ourselves. It makes you wonder how far we've gone, perhaps we're playing god already, perhaps we're giving ourselves a false sense of superiority and security. Who knows.

In any case, don't look down on an animal or think it to be so dumb. Because deep down, you're just the same, with the same instincts and whatnot. The differences are, that you have different advantages and different disadvantages. (Such as the common household cat capable of surviving a 50 story fall)

O...k, I need to shut up, I'm not too sure what I've written, but I believe it gets dumber and dumber...