This is the life

Originally posted at http://rustus.blogspot.com

"You're obviously doing it wrong", said CC with contempt, "when the light blinks red, you have to press with your foot HERE! You guys have no sense of timing at all, do you! You deserve to go hungry". With that he turned around, with the smug look of someone who's on top of his game, and scurried back to his living quarters .

The first time I saw CC, he was rushing back from the room with the blinking red lights, grinning ear to ear, and with food crumbs still stuck to his unkempt whiskers. He stood out from the others, with his pink skin and athletic built. "Life has been good to me", he said with pride, "ever since I figured out the secret to finding food. Now I have my own place, stockpiles to last several generations, and my kids are doing great. Is life good, or what?!"

CC had been busy all week chasing that red light. He had good breeding- his parents were hand-selected for the task of having him, as were their parents and their parents, going back 20 generations. CC's athletic build was a result of this good breeding, as was his pink skin. Life had become more interesting since CC discovered his secret power. He has discovered that he could control the food supply.

Every time that red bulb lit up, he had to press a lever in the next room which, if he did it right, would earn him some more food. This didn't work all the time- "sometimes I don't press the lever hard enough, and sometimes the conditions aren't right". But what CC knew was that ever since he figured out how to control the food supply, there was no stopping him. "I live a busy life. I have to work hard at keeping my stockpiles up, and making sure I have enough to last for the next 10 generations. My brood is growing fast, you know!".

With this much success, CC was not given to unnecessary reflection and philosophizing. "I don't have time for all that navel-gazing. That's what you guys are for. All I know is that if every lab mouse worked as hard as I did, they would be successful and happy. This is all there is to life. I keep busy, have a massive stockpile and I have a lot of kids that will continue my tradition".

This is as good as it gets for him. Many living creatures don't need to believe in afterlife to enjoy their life fully.

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CC's full name was CC_Little_27777. He was the latest in a series of highly inbred laboratory specimen mice. He was named after the inventor of the laboratory mice- CC Little. His lab's research was around perceived control and mice stress.

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(Links for more research on laboratory mice, their inventor CC Little, the research on "perceived control and stress", and the WIRED article on Inbred Mouse.). My previous post on belief in afterlife is here.