I am Sad and Pathetic

I've said it before, I'm not a big cryer. DG sometimes wonders if I have a heart of coal. My last big cry was 9 months ago for the Notebook sobfest.

Then I turned on PBS last night and there was a documentary, narrated by Sigourney Weaver called Why Dogs Smile and Chimpanzees Cry. I tuned in during the topic "Do Animals Feel Grief?". The first story was of a monkey who carried around her dead baby carcass for weeks, until the park rangers took it away from her to bury it. She then went completely crazy crying, screeching, and running around everywhere searching for her lost dead baby. ::sniff:: Then there was the story of a pack of wolves. One wolf in particular was the omega female, the outcast, the last to eat, the one who constantly took the fall, the scapegoat. A mountain lion took the life of this wolf one day, and the entire pack mourned for over 6 weeks. Whenever they came to the area that she died, they would tuck their tails, lower their ears, and howl. Normally a playful pack, they did not play for over a month. ::wipe tear:: Finally, there was the story of the young brazen Meerkat who got caught in a hole next to a Jackal who just had a litter of pups. There she sat, on guard all day. Cut to the next morning, and quite obviously she had a run in with the jackal during the night. She was bloodied, missing an ear, and limping. Her mother cuddled her, trying to comfort her, but the pack needed to move on to find food and water. She limped slowly behind them, so the pack slowed their progress to wait for her. At last, when she could not go any further, she collapsed into a hole. The entire pack surrounded her, her mother put her head on her, comforting her. When it was time, she hobbled a few feet away and died. The pack did not let her die alone, even though they were in desperate need of food and water for survival. Ok, let the waterworks begin. It's making me upset reliving it.

Through stifled tears, and gulping hiccups, I related the entire episode to DG. Then I went and Tivo'd Meerkat Manor on the Animal Planet.