BBC One· A herd of elephants marched 12 hours to the house of Lawrence Anthony after he died – the man who saved them. They stayed there silent for two days.
Exactly one year after his death, to the day, the herd marched to his house again. It is something that science cannot explain.
But I don’t think science should, or needs to explain. Science needs to learn. Elephants grieve, and respect. Elephants know how to pay homage to someone who is deserving, and how to say thank you. We, human kind, need to learn how to be more like animals, like elephants.
As my birthday is now gone, I can say it was. I’m not fond of saying that it is. I’ve not been interested in birthdays since the milestone days: 18, 21, and 30. After that it has seemed mostly inconsequential, especially to celebrate. Not avoidance, more like a no matter. A shrug of the shoulders.
But today I did see this poem posted, a lovely toast to the days as we mark them gone.
Poem and photo posted by Mauri Fox & Kathy Gallo
I Am Not Old I am not old…she said I am rare. I am the standing ovation At the end of the play. I am the retrospective Of my life as art I am the hours Connected like dots Into good sense I am the fullness Of existing. You think I am waiting to die… But I am waiting to be found I am a treasure. I am a map. And these wrinkles are Imprints of my journey Ask me anything. ~ Samantha Reynolds
And this coat has special significance for me as it’s a coat that reoccurs in my life. It is the coat that was first found on Billy the priest as we were kid-adults together in Michigan. He was quite heavyset then, and the coat looked fabulous on him. (He was not a priest at the time.) One of the first novels I wrote, “Last House” has a character in it who has such a coat. He is a character of some merit and all of the people who read the MS loved him. He is also heavyset and a very proud and kind man. When I think of the coat I can feel it, so warm and wonderful, and furry.
“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”
― Lao Tzu
Lao Tzu is credited with writing The Tao, although like many works from that many years ago and transcribed, and from the eastern culture before the birth of Christ, his authorship is disputed. The 10,000 things are in the Tao. And for our records, Tao is pronounced Dao. The Tao is translated as The Way. And this in turn gives new meaning to what the mice say when they say, “The waaaaayyyy things are.” Those mice are very smart fellows, that.
I know I’ve posted this or something like it, a photo of kissing camels. My backyard. Today once again I’ve been asked how I could leave Colorado for here. I always respond the same—a matter of being able to breathe. Yep, the tale of oxygen. The need for that which seems so simple—in and out. It’s amazing what that lovely oxygen does for the body, the organs, the ability to think. But I loved it there. I loved the place we lived in, the condo, the people, the dogs in the park, playing and running and loving. The running creeks, the backyard mountains. I had no desire to leave, only a need. The need to breathe.
And so it is that life has its way with us. A way that drives us into a vehicle, bags packed, Tula and Squeek in their seats, Willie Nelson singing “On the road again.” The way of it, the way of life. “Them’s the breaks, kid,” someone said. And so it is, how we sometimes put one foot in front of the other and go someplace other than where we belong, where we want to be. The place we still long for, a breath away in our dreams.
Just be yourself. What does that mean? How do we just be ourselves? At which age are we closest to the self that is the self?
Today’s results in San Francisco—the public defender win. Chesa Boudin won the mayoral race for SF in California. This is a fellow who stood up against the Democratic machine and all of their endorsements to win. This could bode well for a message that really does need to be heard. Democrats, liberals, progressives, all are quite sick of the slick, the machine, the corporate in any dress that does not truly represent the people.
And the Packers won on Sunday, though a bit of a sloppy win, still a win. We’ve a bi-week coming up so this Sunday’s a freebee. We’re now 8 and 2. Not bad at all moving forward. Especially when we thought we’d have to wait for 3 years while the new team got put together. That’s the normal when the olds are replaced by the new players.
British novelist Julian Barnes was right when he wrote in his book “A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters” that “Irony may be defined as what people miss.” And mostly people misuse irony when they mean poetic justice. That’s when people get their just deserts for how they have acted or lived their lives. That or another misuse, that of Karma, when it isn’t Karma at all. Likely it’s the “what goes around comes around” thinking.
Some quotes are just lovely of themselves, tho we might never find a good use for them. Consider:
“Yes, I have actually mined coal, and distilled liquor, as well as seen a girl in a pink dress, and seen her take it off. I am 54 years old, weigh 220 pounds, and look like the chief dispatcher of a long-distance driving concern. I am a registered Democrat. I drink.” ~ The Butterfly
Writers Ink—Writing and Stuff 