A ground-breaking biological experiment has yielded exciting results this week when a family of rescued Juggalos was introduced to the Parrothead exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. When one thinks of the two species, they often are quick to label them as polar opposites -- beings who should, by no means, get along. The bold experiment, however, astonishingly proved just the opposite.
The path to true cohabitation was rocky towards the beginning. Upon the Juggalos' arrival to the Parrotheads' enclosure, which is slightly hidden just inside the Zoofari Party Area, the Parrotheads drew back in a quiet state of panic. The zoo's Parrothead population, which is comprised of members at least 46 years of age, are quite fearful when introduced to change. They spent the first two hours trying to wait out the storm of misguided young adults, who were throwing souvenir glasses printed with the words "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere!" at each other's heads, in the Margaritaville near the back of their enclosure. There they drank their weight in Landshark and devoured cheeseburgers, hoping that it would all be over soon. All it took was one Parrothead to brave the odds and investigate before the species would learn to cooperate.
One curious Parrothead, who was adorned in a straw hat with plastic beer bottles crudely tied to the brim with fishing line, waterlogged sandals, and cargo shorts full of marijuana, cautiously crept out of the establishment and towards the sea of violent face-painted clowns. The Parrothead's paternal instincts naturally kicked in at the sight of, what he believed to be, the misguided youth of the nation. He was suspended briefly in a moment of realization; he knew he could prevent these kids from experiencing an advanced mid-life crisis just as the rest of his Parrothead clan had. All he had to do was introduce them to the lord of the party, Jimmy Buffett.
Fascinatingly enough, the Juggalos recognized Buffett as an alternate means of entertainment, but they already idolized deities of their own; the Insane Clown Posse. Inversely, the Juggalos taught the Parrotheads of rebellion -- something that had been lacking in their desperate attempts to reignite the sopping wet wick on the candle of their fleeting youth. Parrotheads concerned themselves with the ideology of "going with the flow," but this new twist on the whole idea of youth itself has given them the much-craved opportunity to feel reborn.
Nature is a baseball diamond, and we are the peanut-inhaling, beer-spilling crowd, watching the show play on with rabid enthusiasm. We watch the game for so long that we grow to expect certain things from it, but then a curveball is thrown, and it has the potential to disrupt the projected outcome of the game. It all depends on how the batter handles the curveball. Maybe the batter strikes out. He moves on, no harm no foul, eager to see what is thrown at him next. But maybe he smacks that ball high into the air, over the plates, and into the outfield. Now it is up to the other players in the diamond to react to this stimuli. How they choose to deal with the ball will now decide what happens next to the batter. In layman's terms, even with any identifiable amount of structure in nature comes an equal amount of unpredictability.
