I don’t know how I stumbled upon this, but the other night I saw a trailer online for the new movie Rampage, starring The Rock (Dwayne Johnson). This is the dialogue at the very beginning of the trailer:
Random guy: “It’s weird—you, like, hang out with animals more than people.”
The Rock: “Yeah, well, animals get me.”
The film is based on an ‘80s video game and features a CGI albino silverback gorilla named George who shares a strong bond with The Rock. (George then mutates into a King-Kong-size, city-stomping creature—through no fault of his own—and chaos ensues. But more about that later…)
I’ve always felt pretty neutral about The Rock—not a fan but not not a fan. But the moment I heard that line of dialogue I loved him. Why? Because that’s the way I feel. Like, deep down in my heart. And yeah, some people think it’s weird, and that’s ok.
But here’s the thing—animals don’t get only me and don’t get only people who choose to study and practice animal communication. They just get humans.
Animals are always honest and always want to communicate, which is more than I can say for some people, but that’s ok—because we’ve got human stuff to deal with every day. Animals don’t have that “stuff” (worrying about putting on weight, judging others’ opinions, etc.), but they get that we have that stuff and they’re always trying to help us let it go.
The other day I was scratching my cat’s chin and she was purring up a storm. When at one point I got distracted and stopped scratching her chin, she immediately put her paw under my chin and rubbed it three times. Literal translation: “Hey, why did you stop this chin thing? Do the chin thing again!” Next level translation: “Hey, get back to the present moment where we were having a love fest!” (Because that’s what life’s all about.)
I don’t know if I’ll see Rampage when it comes out. But in my ideal world, the whole mutant-animal-destroying-Chicago thing would be a metaphor for when humans get too big for their britches, they start negatively affecting themselves and the world around them. I’m sure the movie will have a happy ending, but will humans get the lesson? One thing I know for sure—animals will always keep putting their paws on our chins, trying to get their message across.
It’s all about the magic. 🙌