I read in a local paper yesterday that he was killed by some youths. Now I know why he'd disappeared after I wrote the P - Penguin drabble here.
A tiny part of me wants to be understanding and is saying things like "the youths probably have tough lives and are marginalised and unhappy", "they're angry with the world and taking it out on a defenseless creature".
The bigger part of me wants to be unkind and is entertaining mean and extremely uncharitable thoughts towards them. After all Fairy Penguins are a protected animal, and this one was a delight. Hundreds and hundreds of mums and dads, grandmas and grandpas, different ethnic groups and children of all ages had enjoyed his swooping and darting antics. He wasn't hurting anybody, he wasn't a threat, (I guess that was why he was targeted, he couldn't fight back.)
This event brought back the sorrow I felt a couple of years ago when there had been a large sting ray at the same pier. It was there for months, and it was possible to hand feed it if you were game, and there at the right time. Those who fed it knew to keep clear of the barbed tail. It was wonderful to be able to see it up close in its natural habitat, gliding effortlessly through the water and watch the wing-tips glide past boat hulls, flexing ever so gently to avoid making contact.
Then it wasn't there any more. It'd been hacked to pieces by some teenagers.
I'm feeling disgruntled and ill at ease. Locally this has happened, statewide things aren't so great, nation wide ditto, worldwide - not so good either.
For me, little glimpses into the natural world provide a haven from the violence humans choose to do to other humans. It's a form of escapism and helps me find a balance from all the crap out there.
I know the animal kingdom leads to untimely death, is full of the need to eat or trying to escape from being eaten. I think the difference is that it's not killing for pleasure, it's not done because the killer is miffed with something out of kilter in their own life, or for jealousy, or revenge or lust for scarce resources.
So much for these posts being light and whimsical ... perhaps it's time to get to work on my other blog and focus on the healing process after having been bullied!
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7 comments:
Hi Sue .. these two stories give me the same feelings - so I can understand totally .. some parts of humanity are just totally uncaring.
On the other part - I've emailed you twice .. I couldn't use the query on the website to send a message .. and emailed you last week about that ..
but have emailed again this a.m. .. can you use the gmail one ... my name at (without the hyphen)
Cheers and hope to hear from you - Hilary
Oh - I wonder what was going on there? The desire to stop beauty is from a very young ego-state - just to know you can stop something. The violence in the world is terrible. On the other side, I heard locally of a great effort to get a whale that had come ashore - afloat and free. Not sure what finally transpired but the effort was a massive one. Same world. hmmm.
By the way - thanks for your kind comments after my break. Wish we could have a beer together...or a cup of chammomile tea.
Jan Morrison
:(
I just read today an article about how humans are so concerned with our own species that we forget about all the others. Not sure this is related - after all, people capable of doing something like that are probably not overly concerned with human life either - but I think the writer had a point. We need to remember we are not alone on this planet, and we need to start caring more about it.
I’m not very understanding about this kind of crap either. A darling little doggie that I featured on my blog recently suffered a similar fate to your penguin – at the boot of a drunken teenager. The teenager was neither held responsible nor punished. Life is cheap here, and animal life is seen as even cheaper. It really upsets me.
I’m a veggie, and I don’t tread on ants if I can help it – even ants that will bite me. I see the animal world as brutal but essentially innocent. Humans are a part of it but we have greater consciousness/self-awareness. For some reason our awareness seems to make us see ourselves as separate from the natural world and thus able to do barbaric things to it. Sadly many of our number seem to adopt a similar attitude to folks of different races, cultures, and religions too.
Take care.
All the best, Boonie
there's a difference between killing to survive and killing for cruelty and those who don't know the difference are disturbed individuals. the kill of a predator is swift and relatively painless. the kill of a disturbed person is tortuous and painful. perhaps one day all pain and suffering will end. thanks for the compassion Sue. have a great day.
Researching fairy penguins, I don't see how anyone could harm them. It's somewhat angering, and part of me doesn't want to understand. It's a penguin, an animal, and it did no harm, so why harm it? Like everyone has said, it would be different if it was for survival.
Ava
Sorry about my tardy reply, the Blogger hissy fit put a spanner in the works...
Hilary, I hadn't consciously made that connection, but it seems obvious now. I'm not sure what happened to those emails, but now I'm having gmail glitches, so perhaps they're wandering around cyberspace somewhere.
Jan, thankyou, it's interesting to look at events like that from a soul evolution perspective. The balance in focus is important for me to return to - for some reason I find myself thinking of that song "Accentuate the positive" - important to return one's gaze to the 'wholesome' horizon after experiencing negativity. Beer and chamomile tea sounds wonderful!
Mari, I think there's a general malaise covering whole areas of the world, and a lack of concern for not only other humans, but other species; and if that's the case, does it reflect on the person, that they have little respect for themselves as well? Hmmm....
Boonie, brutal and innocent, yes. To me that's important, the animal kingdom isn't all sweetness and light, but it's not greedy or self serving. There's something there about the 'separate from' that for some people equates to 'better than' and enables them to abuse - I don't understand it. Re how we treat others - I cringe. Was that the dog from in front of the gazebos (I've forgotten what you call them). *sigh
Becky, the word disturbed is apt. What I find so frustrating is that with minimal support (in the scheme of things) we could support so many people who are struggling with life and living. But our governments choose to spend it on war. *sigh - again
Ava, It simply doesn't make sense does it. I'm still grappling with trying to understand, but failing. I think something somewhere is dreadfully unhealthy in our society, and it's not going to be 'fixed' by spending mega $ on fighting other countries.
Thanks to each of you for your support, understanding and sharing of frustration, I really appreciate it. I find it reassuring to hear your perspectives from different corners of the world. The internet is must amazing for this kind of connecting.
Sue
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