I remember the audible gasps in school when Mrs. Warmeth, my first grade teacher, told us that we were animals. She was not suggesting that we were being unruly, just making a statement of fact. Even as children, we did not particularly like the comparison, despite the obvious truth behind the statement.
Surely we humans are special, and are therefore above the classification of animal. In fact, throughout time we humans have been drawing arbitrary lines in order to make the distinction more pronounced. Many religions claim that humans have a soul and animals don’t, therefore we humans are superior. We humans have opposable thumbs, therefore we are superior. We humans have mastered complicated language skills, therefore we are superior. Like most lessons learned early in life, we all sometimes need to be reminded of the facts.
There is nothing like a crisis to bring out the animal instincts in humans. Be it the Tea Party or the Occupy Wall Street groups, people are gathering in anger and fear. “Let’s take back our country” is a rallying cry used by both groups. But who are we taking our country back from? If the Tea Party didn’t take our country and the OWS crowd didn’t take our country, who did? The simple answer: no one.
As previously mentioned, people are angry and scared; and what do angry and scared herd animals do? They gather the herd into one tight, noisy group, which produces some safety and comfort. When met by a predator or perceived threat (i.e., natural disasters), antelopes, zebras, and yes, even humans, huddle together and make noise.
Another trait we share with animals is hoarding. Dogs will hoard bones and toys by burying them in the backyard never to be seen again. Rats will hoard all sorts of shiny, colorful objects in their nests for no apparent reason, other than the fact that they are shiny and colorful. Humans hoard, too. Lord knows how many seed banks, survival kits, and gold bars have been sold to people by fear mongers. Just look at gold prices over the last three years. Gold has little to no intrinsic value. It is a weak metal and has little practical use; however, panicked humans have increased its value by multiples in order to satisfy their basic animal instincts.
The final example I’ll give is order. Humans love order. So does nature. In non-turbulent times we can see order all around us. Traffic patterns, store lines, and our highly scheduled lives are just a few examples of human order. In nature, we see pecking orders and yes, we even see lines. At a watering hole, animals of all sorts, predator and prey alike, wait their turn peacefully to take a drink. However, when faced with adversity, both humans and animals will give up order in favor of winning the largest chunk of the resource for themselves. (Any parent who gone Christmas shopping for their children knows what aggressive, putrid beasts we can become when the final Elmo doll is at stake.)
Humans, however, do have one trait that can separate them from other animals—the capacity to reason. Unfortunately, it is the one trait most easily overridden by our instincts when we need it the most. Instincts are great for immediate survival (fight/flight response), but do little for our long-term survival and happiness. Whether socializing or investing, we would all be served well in asking ourselves if we are using our instincts or reason prior to taking action.
As a value investor, I don’t invest in gold. As previously mentioned, it is a fairly useless metal. Its sole value mechanism is tied to the hopes and fears of society at any given point in time. Human “group think” is too fickle and illogical for me to make any sizable bet on the animalistic tendencies of people.
Real estate, on the other hand, has true value. Whether it is for a residence, food production, or business, we all need real estate. Unless you think there is about to be a rapid reduction in population, real estate will always have value.
As a father and boss, I ask my children and employees to ask themselves the same question; when a child or an employee of mine has a conflict with a family member or tenant I ask my child/employee if there is any value in engaging in said conflict, or are they just reacting to the conflict? If there is no value, then disengage.
We may all be animals, but that doesn’t mean we have to act like them.
Caleb Smith is president and owner of Spire Realty Group LP. Contact him at [email protected].
