In Remembrance Of Lives Lost – Lives Stolen
In Remembrance Of Lives Lost – Lives Stolen – It’s November – another year is slip-sliding inexhorably into the ashes of time. In the never ending global human drama – it has been a year of confrontation and angst – weather reprisals (Mother Nature is seriously displeased) – war – striving for peace – whistle blowing disclosure – blame – not me – not mine – political comedy – recrimination – discrimination – regret – finger pointing – sorrow – political posturing – spying – truth telling – sabre rattling and lunacy.
It has also been a year of happiness – discovery – learning – laughter – joy -awakening – support – caring – sharing – awareness – creativity and the recognition of just how magnificent human beings can be when we look beyond our differences and embrace our common truths. The most significant one being that “love” is ultimately the greatest gift that we can give ourselves as humans – nations and a global community.
It was also the year when men – women and children joined hands across the miles and stood up in 42 cities around the world to March For Elephants. The first march of its kind in recorded history for an animal species. The driving force behind the marches was The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. These marches were not raucous and angry but well-planned, thoughtful and hopeful. It was a privilege for me to take part in Toronto’s event – and I am grateful for every person in every country – who organized the marches and made them happen.
The message was that we need to do something about the destruction of a species who has roamed the earth for millions of years. The grains of sand are slipping through the hour glass at an alarming rate – elephants are in mortal danger. They need us and we cannot – will not let them down!
November 14, 2013 marks the day when the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver will destroy 6 tons of stockpiled tusks – artwork – carvings and trinkets that have been seized while entering the USA. I understand that the ivory will not be burned but pulverized with a rock crusher. There are stock piles of ivory all over the world. It is worth untold millions – perhaps billions of dollars. China has tons and tons of ivory that they claim will be used for “education” purposes … and elephants can fly.
The endless “he said – she said” rhetoric does not matter. What is being missed in the self-righteous political posturing among countries is what has really been lost here. It is NOT the number of tons of ivory but the lives claimed because of one thing only – human greed. Make no mistake in your understanding of elephants – an elephant born in the wild and not hunted and butchered can live for 70+ years. These are lives lost – lives stolen for no good reason.
Is This Worth The Taking Of A Magnificent Life?
It Is Time For The World To Set Aside Trade Negotiations – Political Interests – Elitist Entitlement & Say A Resounding”No” To China and The USA – The 2 Biggest Consumers of Ivory & Any Other Nation Complicit In The Slaughter Of Elephants!
As I have in the past – I turned with gratitude – once again to Andrew Mercer’s magnificent poem “The Vanishing” for inspiration:
A balance for each living thing
Where all things play their part
Where the ebb and flow eternally
Bring the end back to the start.
What punishment shall fit this crime?
For the treachery and lying
The hourglass is filled with bones
Where sand pours on the dying.
Ivory will be destroyed this week but it is NOT about the politicians – the blaming – the corruption – the greed – the senseless slaughter – the denials and self-righteousness in which nations engage – the weak leaders and the appalling human need for status and materialism. It is about the elephants who lost their lives.
Every tusk represents a life lost – a baby elephant orphaned – the wisdom of an elephant Matriarch silenced – a family shattered – the fear – the pain – the longing and the incalculable grief caused by the sheer senselessness of human weakness and greed!
So I do not see piles of tusks – boxes of tusks – shelves filled with tusks – great bonfires of tusks. I hear instead the trumpets of elephant joy silenced before their time – the baby elephants not playing and splashing in a river and the magnificent herds not roaming across great tracts of land – along migration pathways that have been theirs for eons.
This week as we remember and pay tribute to our departed soldiers around the world – let us also bear silent witness to the fallen gentle giants who no longer roam the land because of us.
We should humbly ask their forgiveness and I know they would give it – because elephants have a wisdom that we cannot comprehend – an ability to love unclouded by trite emotion that we would be lucky to possess – and a sense of family that puts our little human dramas to shame.
Do not see a pulveriuzed pile of ivory dust – see instead the lives that we have the power to save – and then get involved and help to preserve our elephants in the wild!
Be A Part Of Something Really Important –
In Remembrance Of Lives Lost – Lives Stolen!
