Hi all,
I often joke about 2015 was 'the year of no successes'. But this moniker, perhaps clever, is technically untrue. I did have one massive success in 2015- I finally managed to finish reading K.A. Applegate's Animorphs series. (1)
It turned out that, despite perhaps being the oldest person in world history to ever read these books, I managed to draw a number of valuable reinforcements from my project last year. To commemorate the one-year anniversary of my reading, I made a list of these concepts that I drew from re-reading the series.
In the interest of keeping this post under ten millions words, though, I limited it to one observation per major character plus a couple of thoughts I linked to memorable minor ones.
Without further ado, then- a list of things I could have learned at ten had I paid more attention while reading...
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Jake- focusing entirely on process over outcomes is an academic concept
It takes about two-thirds of the first book to establish the basic premise for the next sixty-three books. There is an alien invasion, circumstances (somehow) dictate only five kids can (secretly) fight it, they'll do this by turning into animals for up to two hours at a time, they'll call themselves the Animorphs, and there are possibly some love ('like') interests among those in the group. A standard mix of fantasy, realism, shipping potential, and mind-numbing nonsense for those familiar with the genre.
The less important issue of leadership comes soon after. It begins when the group spontaneously agrees that Jake should be the leader. Why? Why not!
'You're the leader. You just are,' is the closest thing to a reason provided (or something like that, as I'm quoting from memory there). Well, then! Plus, he's tall and good-looking, or so Cassie says.
Despite no formal decision to make Jake the leader and no stated desire from him to serve as the leader, it just kind of becomes the case over time. The hierarchy established, the rest of the series emphasizes the strength of Jake as a leader.
The consistent lesson about power and leadership is driven home by contrasting Jake to other leaders in the series. Time and again, the negative results of a leader's concern with establishing their own power prove decisive in a given plot. The power-blind failures of other leaders create opportunities that the Animorphs take advantage of to narrowly escape dangerous situations or, on rare occasions, win a battle.
Jake's leadership differed from those he crossed paths with. He maintained a process-oriented mentality whenever possible. This meant doing things the right way- the classic 'we will not become the enemy' thinking- even as circumstances tempted him to do otherwise. Such consistent, principled leadership did not mean Jake was never questioned or doubted by his team. But these concerns were focused on his decisions, not his leadership, and the group trusted Jake throughout the war to wield his power in the best interest of the war effort.
And yet, when the desired outcome is clear, process is only relevant to a point. There is no better example of this idea than Jake. At multiple times in the series, he decides the fate of unarmed prisoners. He does not make the same decision each time. His failure to uphold his own principles by the end of the war drives home this major lesson from the series. After countless battles over multiple years, even a leader of Jake's strength makes decisions aimed at ending the war no matter the cost to allies, innocents, or his own psyche.
Jake's path in the series reveals the contradiction built into emphasizing process over outcomes. No amount of high-minded rhetoric extolling the virtues of process will change the fact that all process exists to achieve outcomes. At some point, the outcome appears so close that the temptation to abandon process becomes too great to resist.
Rachel- without balance, strengths are in danger of becoming weaknesses
Rachel is the true warrior of the group. At times, those in the group speculate that Rachel likes the war, that she is in a way grateful for it. Her involvement enabled her true self to shine through in a way that math class, gymnastics, or shopping at the mall never allowed.
Rachel's choices of animals to turn into (grizzly bear, elephant, etc), her enthusiastic preference for combat over stealth missions, and her consistent place at the front of the line whenever the group charges into the teeth of the enemy all perpetuate this thinking. But it is tolerated for her attitude and bravery embolden many in the group and her ferocity as a warrior open up many opportunities to hurt the enemy that prove invaluable to the team.
However, Rachel's boldness in battle often veers into sheer recklessness. A number of occasions see her bravado endanger the lives of others in the team.
Rachel's stories in the series highlight the need for balance. Sometimes, balance comes from within. This is the case for those in the team who harness the aggression inherent in the animal forms they take on to enter battle.
For someone like Rachel, internal balance is impossible. Jake, in another example highlighting his ability as a leader, brings this balance on many occasions. He steps in to prevent Rachel's aggression from causing damage to herself or plans battle strategy to limit the possibility of her over-extension into enemy territory.
Her struggle throughout the series to control her own aggression demonstrates the age old adage of having too much of a good thing. As a runner whose injuries tend to come from running too much or someone who has been drunk, once (or twice)- I can relate to the experience of pushing too far when things are going well. Like Goldilocks, the blond haired Rachel is a reminder of the importance of 'just right' despite the obvious temptations to seek out the extremes.
Cassie- live your gimmick
I imagine Cassie is a favorite character for many readers of the series. She is, perhaps disappointingly for the bloodthirsty reader, almost entirely committed to pacifism.
Despite fully involving herself in almost all the battles, Cassie is constantly bringing what Marco describes as 'morals' into the team's discussions. She keeps one eye locked on questions of ethics at all times, even in the midst of horrible situations brought on by the war, and sometimes becomes so distracted by her 'tree hugging' (Marco again) that her commitment to the war effort is called into question.
One specific incident highlights this point better than any other. In one rather incredible book, Cassie steps out of the war. She does so by brokering a mutual agreement with one of the enemy- she'll stop morphing if the Yeerk agrees to step away from her role as an invader. This is not a particularly helpful agreement for the Animorphs- Cassie is one of six fighting thousands. Luckily, they are able to get away with the well-intentioned error thanks to an unknown technicality regarding the morphing technology.
And yet, Cassie ultimately proves the value of a peaceful approach even in the middle of a fierce war. It is her decision, motivated as always by her peaceful nature, that ultimately proves a decisive factor in ending the invasion. It would have been so easy for Cassie, at almost any point in the series, to choose to ignore who she was while involved in the battle. And yet, by living in a way fully true to her nature throughout, she was able to do exactly what was required when it counted the most.
I think, sometimes, it becomes very easy to lose sight of this kind of thing. We forget, for example, that such a thing as commitment is trivial without constant acts of commitment. We spend our time thinking or feeling that we are a certain way without ever actually doing the things consistent with such a person. I'm reminded of my own recognition just over a year ago that, though I considered myself a charitable fellow, it had been years since I donated a nickel to a cause or given an hour of service to the community.
I worry that those who live too long in a way untrue to themselves or in conflict with their own perceptions wake up one day and realize that they became who they pretended all along to be. Cassie provides a prescription against such a morning. At all times, she retains her sense of self and never allows her role as a warrior to take over her identity. She knows herself well enough that she can carry the contradiction of being a peace-loving killer without allowing it to unbalance her or limit her ability to contribute to the cause.
Marco- you should laugh and you should cry
Marco is the most outwardly reluctant of the team to participate in the battle but, upon learning that his mother is among those already enslaved by the enemy, is among the most dependable in the group throughout the series. (2)
Most fans will likely remember Marco for his worldview- you can laugh or you can cry. Marco, framing the expression as a choice, chooses the former. But as the series moves forward, I started to see the options as another example of required balance. Laughing and crying are not the mutually exclusive options that Marco frames them to be.
Marco illustrates the danger of laughing when perhaps he would be better off crying. By withholding his own feelings from his fellow Animorphs and failing to acknowledge these emotions to himself, Marco makes himself more difficult to trust. In more than one instance, these failures manifest in ways that place the entire team in mortal danger.
I think it goes the other way, as well, in that there is danger to over-sensitivity, in letting what could be easily laughed off pierce or wound instead. (Marco, as mentioned earlier, is very astute in recognizing this possibility with Cassie.) In framing laugh or cry as a choice, though, Marco hardens himself emotionally instead of dealing with his pain in a healthy way. It prevents him, among other things, from growing over the course of the series in the way Cassie did.
Tobias- people respond to incentives- but not always like you think
As mentioned above, one of the ground rules for the series was that no animal form can be taken for more than two hours by anyone. The consequences are significant- anyone in morph for longer than that will remain stuck in that form, unable to return to human form, for the rest of their lives.
In a plot twist that would have made Chekhov proud, Tobias is trapped in a red-tailed hawk morph almost immediately. By the end of book #1, the Animorphs are down one morph-capable human (but benefit in other ways from Tobias's consistent aerial presence).
There are many easy lessons to draw from Tobias's story. In many ways, his transformation into a bird of prey brings out the very best of his character. Tobias endures his suffering in a manner that ultimately fosters his growth. When granted an opportunity to return to his human form, Tobias declines, opting instead to regain only his morphing ability. There is much wisdom in interpreting his story through the lens of a trapped mind escaping the fate of its body.
However, I have taken a perhaps simpler and certainly less direct interpretation here. Tobias shows us that what glitters is not always gold, especially to those uninterested in wealth. To the other Animorphs, the two-hour limit is to be obeyed at all costs. And yet, as it turns out for others, the same two hours is merely a waiting period prior to salvation, to escape from the body that imprisons.
It reminds me of something I've prattled on about in this space before- incentives are often falsely treated as dictum. People, it turns out, are much more complex and their decisions are much more difficult to predict than is suggested by incentivization. A bonus scheme might encourage more effort- or it might help an employee realize that the time is not worth the reward. (3)
Ax- it is very hard to acknowledge how people change
Ax, the sixth and final main character, is the only non-human member of the group. He joins the Animorphs after his spaceship crash lands into the ocean. Though only the equivalent of a cadet in the military structure of his species, the Andalites, Ax nevertheless proves immensely valuable thanks to his knowledge of the alien universe.
At a number of times in the series, the team is able to make contact with the Andalites. Each time, I found notable how quickly Ax reverts to his ingrained social habits. Despite massive success as a participant in the battle on Earth, Ax remains a cadet in the eyes of his superiors and acts like it whenever he communicates with them.
It is striking how familiar patterns of communication take over, often without warning, in social settings. We talk about how it was 'just like the old times' whenever we see old friends even though, invariably, no person remains exactly the same during even the briefest of separations.
Perhaps it is simply too difficult or risky to make the full effort, each time, to redefine relationships based on what's just come to pass. On the other hand, though, it is a fact that close friends drift apart all the time. Perhaps an increased willingness to acknowledge and explore the ways we change every day is one step toward building strong and lasting relationships.
Cassie's dad- deal with what is
Cassie's dad is a veterinarian who takes care of injured wildlife in a barn behind their home. In one book, Cassie is upset about a bird that was clearly left for dead by an unknown person. How could someone injure an animal like this, she cries.
Her dad's advice is very simple- don't worry about how it should be, just deal with what is.
The temptation to dwell in the past limits our ability to make a full impact in the present. Instead of encouraging people to find ways to make the world a better place, such thought patterns encourage people to throw their hands up in the air, blame the powers that be, or simply check out from the problem entirely. All of these responses serve to give away the power that all persons comes into the world with.
Visser Three- The Peter Principle
Visser Three is the leader of the invading forces, the Yeerks. His rise, chronicled in various snippets throughout the series, details a power-hungry lunatic whose only tactical response to almost every situation is violence. The Peter Principle is a management theory which states that people are promoted until they reach a job that they cannot do. The quote attributed to the inventor, Laurence J. Peter, is well-known- 'managers rise to the level of their incompetence'.
Fortunately for Visser Three's career prospects, the Yeerks are a very violent species. It takes him to around sixteenth in command and third in the field within the military hierarchy. Such a lofty position places him in charge of the invasion of Earth.
This is where the Visser meets his (her? The Yeerks, perhaps, are so advanced that they do not use gender designations) bureaucratic match. The stealth tactics needed to invade Earth with minimal loss of resources are a poor fit for Visser Three's behead first, behead later leadership style.
On the other hand, what did his/her superiors expect? All the Visser did in prior conflicts was behead first, behead later. The Visser rose, rank after rank, until his blade-happy tactics became the source of incompetence, not merit.
Personally, I find the Peter Principle one of the more pointless concepts I've ever had enthusiastically explained to me. It defines academic- an observation which predicts failure without prescribing solution. To hire without considering past performance or merit invites politics. And don't we all love politics?
The Ellimist- love conquers hate
The Ellimist is a god-like figure whose considerable power allows him to make changes in what is referred to as 'space-time'. In short, this means he is capable of almost anything, except of course when he isn't. Tough to explain, really.
The biggest limit to his power is his enemy, the Crayak. The Crayak is interested in consolidating his power through the destruction of potential challengers. The Ellimist battles with him throughout the galaxy to contain his evil intentions and preserve as much life as possible.
Early on in their struggle, the Crayak gains the upper hand. The turning point comes when the Ellimist changes his strategy. Instead of trying to defend every one of the Crayak's targets from extinction, the Ellimist wanders the galaxy, creating new life. He creates life at a rate faster than the Crayak is able to destroy it. The trend is acceptable to neither and a truce is called. When the conflict resumes, it does so under newly established ground rules limiting the direct intervention of these two beings in the fates of sentient species.
The lesson here is tough to work with in any immediate way, no doubt about it. It certainly looks nice on fortune cookies. And yet, I sense there is something important to it.
It reminds me of a lesson from Thich Nhat Hanh's How To Love. He describes how the heart is like a cup holding water. When life, inevitably, pours salt into the cup, the task is not to bemoan the salt or throw away the cup. Rather, it is to expand the cup so that the salt becomes diluted and the agony of the salt is borne with lessened intensity. The heart expands only through love and only through a lifetime of such growth is it possible to bear the many griefs, losses, and sufferings that we all encounter on the journey of a full life.
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And that does it...goodbye, young adult section of the library...
Thanks as always for reading. I'll be back Monday with something more adult.
Until then, take care.
Tim
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. Well, 2015 was before 2016...wait, you did WHAT all year?
This was no cheap achievement, even if you factor in that the books were written for fifth-graders. The series spans sixty-four total books and each took between one and two hours for me to read...in 2015...as a fully-grown adult.
Though no math wizard am I, it appears I spent up to five whole days reading these books in 2015. On second thought, maybe this was not an achievement at all.
This moment was at least seventeen years in the making. I recall talking to a classmate in fifth grade about the most recent release (specifically book #26 and the tiger on its cover) so I am confident stating that I was reading them in that year. At some point after that conversation, I stopped reading the series. If memory serves correctly, this was somewhere around book #38, about fifteen shy of the end. According to a combination of my best guesswork and a glance at the publication dates, this stoppage took place around the middle of 2000.
It would make sense that I stop at that point. The cool kids in junior high weren't reading Animorphs, you know? Or just reading at all, really. Everyone just watched TV. Actually, now that I consider it, things have not changed much since then. Moving right along...
So, from around that point until December of last year, I lived in a constant state of suspense about the conclusion of the series. Who died? What...well, that was about it. WHO DIED? I knew someone died. Hopefully Voldemort. He was mean.
Driven by the need to answer that pressing question (and to perhaps clear up a confusion or two with other popular series), I dove right into the Animorphs at the start of last year. I read about five or six books per month to keep a consistent pace throughout the year. And, unsurprisingly, someone did die in the end.
I was surprised by a lot of other things. The books were not all good- some were outright bad- but some were very, very good. Books #7, #13, #19, #23, #31, and each of the 'chronicles' were particular standouts. Despite the up and down quality of the books, I struggled to stick to my schedule- I was tempted every month to just read them all as quickly as possible.
The biggest surprise was the depth to which the realities of war were explored. Characters in this series die, sometimes gruesomely. Families directly and indirectly involved in the conflict are torn apart. Veterans and civilians deal with mental aftereffects and physical limitations brought on by injury or destruction. I learned more about some aspects of war from these books than I did in any history class or well-regarded 'adult' history book.
The value of knowing these things at the age of ten is debatable. At that age, perhaps lining up toy soldiers and running them over with the matchbox you pretend is a tank is a better use of time. Still, compared to other 'similar' books that my peers were reading at the time- like the ridiculous Goosebumps series- I think reading seven-tenths of the Animorphs was a hugely positive thing for me.
Plus, it is always fun to read about animals.
I considered framing this post as a 'Life Changing Book'. Ultimately, the Animorphs did not align with the stated premise- it is a series, not a single book, and the changes to my life were not observable through direct behavior.
2. I almost went with 'beware the unnecessary, over-logical explanation'...
Most of Marco's participation in the series centers around a self-created conflict- could he kill his own mother in a battle? He spends a lot of time convincing the rest of the team that he could and, of course, no one believes him. It brings to mind an experience I've had many times over the years- sitting through the 'over logical' explanation- usually coming from someone who is perhaps trying to convince him or herself of something as much as they are anyone in their audience.
In making his case, Marco often resorts to what I sometimes refer to as a 'debate club' strategy. Marco's explanations in these situations are generally supported by several details, insights, or sub-explanations. However, it usually ignores the big big BIG thing- he is going to kill his own mother! I call this 'debate club' logic because, in some cases, the weighing of arguments is trivial in the face of just one comment, clearly stated, that is obvious enough to merit the end of the discussion.
Ultimately, I could not really do much to fuse those two observations together. So, I decided to just tuck it here into the footnotes as a half-formed lesson.
3. Economics again!
Truisms such as 'you always repay your debts' highlight the misunderstanding. If such a thing was always the case, the interest rate would be right around 0%. Actually, wait, bad example.
Here is perhaps the most well-publicized example of incentives gone wrong.
