"The best laid schemes o' mice an men Gang aft agley..."

This may be a bit old, but in class we were talking about the difference between humans and animals. The conversation made me think of the Burns poem "To a Mouse." In it, the speaker turns up a mouse's nest with his plow. He reflects that man's (and mouse's) best plans often go awry. But he says that animals are blessed in the primary way that they differ from humans: animals are concerned only with the present. The mouse's house is destroyed, and she must create a new house. She does not lament the fact that her first house is destroyed, nor does she fear winter without a house; she only knows that now she must build one. The speaker, however, and all humans, look back on "prospects drear" and look to the future, which, one can "guess an' fear." We worry about the past and future. Animals do not. I think this underscores the idea that humans have some greater purpose than just survival, which is animal's primary concern and the reason for their focus only on the present.

Secondly, on a completely unrelated note, I wanted to respond to what Rob said at the end of class, that psychologists cannot be wrong, that it's only interpretation. I'm pretty sure that is completely false. If a psychologist diagnoses someone with schizophrenia, causing them to seek a prescription for antipsychotics (which change brain function, and can create tick disorders, among other side effects), and it turns out that person doesn't even have schizophrenia...... well, I would say that psychologist was very much wrong, in a very big way.