"Why do so many of us love the passed-out raccoon in the liquor store bathroom? That fuzzy little body stretched out on the bathroom floor after a full-force face plant in between a trash can and the toilet pulls at our heartstrings. He looked vulnerable. We all know he was going to have an absolute whopper of a hangover. My head started pounding, and my stomach started churning in solidarity."
"There's a lightheartedness to the debauchery of the raccoon I have decided to name "Eggnog," given one of his beverage choices. There was just too much revelry. He just went for it and partied until he dropped. It was truly an open bar for him. He wasn't drinking to escape pain or suffering. He wasn't counting his drinks and making rules for his consumption."
A passed-out raccoon in a liquor-store bathroom evokes strong empathy because the small, stretched body appears vulnerable and imminently hungover. Naming him "Eggnog" frames his state as lighthearted debauchery: excessive revelry, open-bar abandon, and carefree indulgence rather than escape from suffering. Eggnog drinks without secrecy, shame, or visible consequences and can sober up and shuffle away unpunished. The raccoon symbolizes living in the present and consequence-free behavior, which provokes human longing for uninhibited pleasure. Human alcohol consumption, by contrast, often carries real risks, including drunk driving and loss of relationships, jobs, or standing.
Read at Psychology Today
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