Over the last three years I’ve learned to manage pastures and help newborn calves latch on to their mamas. (I also learned that “cattle” is the proper gender-neutral term, whereas a “cow” is a female that has had a calf.) While cattle are as intelligent and as lovable as dogs, I’ve found that they go through life at their own leisurely speed. Whereas dogs adapt to the rhythms of human society in all its varied forms, cattle don’t abide sudden movements or states of human agitation. By forcing people to adopt their pace, cattle connect us to the environment in ways that no other animal does.

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Persons: David Letterman, —, I’ve Locations: M.R.I