Yet see what we have done to the striped species. We have given great deal of ‘social status’ to horses by making them our companions but have scorned and banished the zebras to the wild for the only reason that they can’t be domesticated.

Historically there have been attempts to domesticate this species with little success. So they say about zebra’s temperament, unpredictability and tendency to panic in pressure situations. It narrows down to their attitude. But in reality it’s a choice that zebra has made, isn’t it? It’s a choice of independence, of not being disturbed, of not becoming man’s slave (read ‘domestication’) forever.

Nothing comes free. In return, the zebras have sacrificed their ‘social status’, all the pampering and attention they deserve. On our part we have conveniently ignored the species.

But this happens to us everyday. We all don’t like to be supervised or micro-managed. We love when a task is assigned and we are left undisturbed to deliver. There are few who don’t like to pamper bosses and suck them up. Yet a few others want the freedom to work from home or even run their own business. In other words, we want to be the Zebras!

But what we can’t take in return is the poor recognition, low visibility and partiality. We are not ready to be ignored by bosses, peers and society at large. We want to relax and enjoy parties, but crave to be the chic of the day too. Celebrities want to smoke in public but don’t want to be criticized.

Zebras aren’t jealous of the pampered horses! They have learned to trade-off. Zebras have earned their stripes. Black and White stripes symbolize that we will have to give up one thing to get another.

Why can’t we learn from them to trade-off. If we want to be independent and left undisturbed, we are bound to be ignored!

We have to earn our stripes!

By Nilakanta Srinivasan