09 Heroic

Heroic  9

     Joe Anole (the lizard) piped up in a bellowing voice,though just a little fellow, “Before we get started I have a few questions and requests. Watch where you are stepping; I could be right under your left foot! 
Question One: What are the rules?

Question Two: Are we doing this for us or for "them"; I mean humans? Question Three: Are we expected to be heroic, because I don’t have a heroic scale on my meager body? I am a bit reptilian in attitude; so, there is not much, in a cold-blooded way, that I wish to do for humankind than eat their pesky bugs.”

     Leda, the dragonfly, buzzed, “I share some of Joe’s worries, being small and a frequent target of kids at play and misdirected insecticides. We dragonflies have been on planet Earth for 300 million years while humans less than 3 million years.

Does that count for something? And we have managed without so-called leadership such as Cesar, Jesus, or General Patton. This 'crisis' created by humans makes me want to roll my compound eyes.”

     Free, the butterfly, clicking colorfully, “My sentiments as well. We have been on Earth for 130 million years and can only enjoy and flourish on a gentle planet.”

     Hummy, a bit taken aback by the negativity, hummed, “ Whoa boys and girls, something brought us all here, like a tractor beam. The negative stuff won’t solve this crisis or any other. Mother Nature and/or God must be sending us a message.”

     “ I wondered about that,” chirped Andi, the Osprey.  “Why did we all come to the same place, and why have we laid aside our fears of each other?"

     “It is much more mysterious than simple serendipity,” squawked Bertie, the peregrine falcon.

     BillyG surmised, “let’s don’t fool around, some of us have to get back to work. The rules are few. (1) This is an open group so we can stay or leave at any time (2) If the circle gets too big, we form a second (outer) circle and so on. (3) No venom, no kicking, no biting, and no hate. Does that sound like a process we can all agree on?”

**********

      A stillness settled around the entire animal circle; and then followed a Dominican rainforest of sounds from everyone which implied a totality of expression.
      Little did they know that a partial eclipse of the Sun would appear over the island at 3:44 P.M. on August 21, 2017. This was to be their time of inclusion that left no doubt about how phantasmagorical the meeting was to be.

08 Mystified

Mystified    8

     ” I don’t know about mystified but I am certainly blindsided by human consciousness," bleated BillyG, “According to what was handed down through my kin, we were wild Bezoar ibexes until about 10,000 years ago, when we allowed ourselves to be domesticated." It was a fateful decision but many of our youngsters were starving and like humans of today, we were over-sexed and rutted our way into a crisis. To save our kids we first accepted food from humans and then accepted shelter, too. We were locked in because we agreed to have the predators locked out.”

     “This is painful,” crooned Mira the sloth, “because I was ignoring the whole mess. In our state of mind, we sloth females just scream until a male finally shows up and 9 months later we just have one baby sloth and don’t get the urge again for almost 2 years. Humans appear to be glutinous, at best.”

      “I don’t like to sound prudish,” says Gary, the Bassett hound, "but sex probably is not the main issue, but rather something else such as greed, speed or ego. Some damn evolution architect made my legs so short it's downright embarrassing.”

     Hummy intervened, " we are getting off track a bit. Let's concentrate on the power of the Group and complete our circle with the full complement of 24 animals."

      Mum, the nanny goat bleated, " I am lost. Why don't we have a plan or some protocol? 

      Hooie, the barn owl, hooted, "It is the wise move. Once we form a circle and connect with each other we will be amazed before we are half-way through." 

      Ducky, the Pekin duck quacked, " All you fun-in-flying birds come on down and perch so we can get on with our circle job. Humans may not be worth it but they are destroying the planet and can't seem to find their way out of a paper bag. I need to get back to egg laying." 

      So, Bertie, the peregrine falcon, Milvus, the back kite, Fregata, the frigate bird gave up their fun and perched around the circle. Free, the butterfly, Leda the dragonfly found branches in the circle too. 

     Though they were a half dozen short each noted privately that either anxiety or exhilaration was coursing through them. Those who were less ego-driven began to feel exhilaration but it was all for the good. Because, in the better angel’s scheme of things, exhilaration always trumps anxiety. 

      The group formed as a leaderless bunch, egos evaporated and a calm stillness settled over the group like the morning dew.............and it was good.  

    

      One might easily be mistaken by believing that humans invented group process. However, the White Pelican forms groups to corrale fish into their group circle and devours them without having to fly and dive. Through 30 million years these pelicans have mastered this process without uttering a word. This knowledge of group process exceeds the human tribal circle by at least 25 million years. It is a marvel to see them in action. So, one of our group members, the facilitator, is a White Pelican named Mary.   And she has just flown in to join and facilitate the group.  It is noteworthy that the pelican is revered throughout Christian history because of it causes its breast to bleed and thus feed otherwise starving chicks.

07 Interlude

Interlude    II

     Seemingly invincible incompatibilities can have a hidden bond which allows them to thrive in each other’s midst. But matters can get terribly complicated even with the best intentions made by all. Hence, the gathering of animals on Dominica who are seriously considering a humanitarian act, pray tell. Perhaps, if animals were more self-serving they would consider an animatarian act as opposed to humanitarian act. But for the story to have merit these animals must reach sacrificially to help humans who no longer see themselves as close to the edge of extinction. A harbinger could have been a few loose ceramic tiles on the belly of the returning astronauts space vehicle in 2003 in which all seven astronauts were killed. 
      Could we all burn up through our amazing but fateful speed of humanity hurtling through time and overheating the entire planet? If nature has a pace are we exceeding it?

Consilience    7

     We all looked up at the title of this section wondering what in the hell was consilience. Animals have a problem with words anyway and this word is

too steep for most of us. As it turns out consilience was chosen by the editor because it is derived from ‘jumping together of knowledge’.  On further investigation the group found that Edward O Wilson's book, Consilience, was the editors favorite book.  The chosen animals are going to have to jump into this project without reservation with the
emphasis on together.

     As the group of animals formed a circle each realized that there was a peculiar energy among them. What it was, remains a mystery, but what it could accomplish was emerging as primitive intuition. To put it another way they were moving in concert but had no inkling of how this could be happening. It was not passed from generation to generation as a tribal circle but as a much more primitive circle of million years past minnows migrating through dangerous waters. Just as little children all over the world learn to speak from the mysterious depths of the consciousness of past generations, our Dominican animals were tapping the consciousness of millions of years of survival knowledge from minnows, no less.

     Cackle the grackle suddenly dropped into the circle talking a mile-a-minute,

“The Governor of California just signed into a law a bill that makes cow farting virtually illegal. Because global warming is created by methane (farts) gas then cows are the worst farts of all. It’s a crime, it’s a blooming crime. Don’t they realize that humans are eating too many hamburgers which come from cows. Cows are innocent.”   Cackle squawked, “There are from 1 to 2 billion cows on this earth and they all make tons of methane gas. And that’s a fact Jack.”

     “Here, here,” echoed everyone in the group. And now on to helping pitiful human beings. They know not what hamburgers have wrought.

     Coqui, the frog sang, “I’m great at jumping but not so sure about the knowledge part.”

06 Courage

Courage. 6

     “Did you see that?”, sang Coqui, the frog. “I saw something in that bearded tree move very slowly but in a strange way. I don’t know if I have the courage to hang out with a bunch of weirdos like you all day.”  

     “Wait just a minute and have a little patience. I am flitting about so fast I can’t see much that moves slowly.” Chirped Hummy. Then, while hovering in one place, Hummy saw what he believed had become extinct on Dominica; a three-toed sloth as it became faintly visible!

     “I had hopes of remaining unseen until I could understand your crazy conversation,” crooned Mira the sloth. “But I suspect that it will take a bit longer.

 I am always late and I never hurry anything; but you’ll are certainly in a dither. Bring me up to date.”

     BillyG offered this,“ I have been chewing on this cud for over an hour and it remains only partly digestible. But the gist of it is as follows….. We have found each other accidently and have begun to talk about how humans or people are off-the-chain all over the world. The indigestible part is can we as mere animals do anything to remedy the situation?”

     “Wow”, crooned Mira, ’You have to have a lot of courage to help people. I hear that humans have professionals to help and many of them soon drop out, drink, or go off-the-chain themselves. But it will take me a week to find another tree so I will give you that much of my time.”

    Gathering by chance on a plantation near Soufriere on a cool April morning they circled around each other.  

      Cesar, the iguana, rustled the leaves saying, " I am just listening today".  

      Paula, a Sisserou parrot, perched near Milvus and took a plug out of the mango saying, " I thought I wanted a cracker but this is even better." 

      Free, the Dominican hairstreak, fluttered over the gathering circle and was heard to say faintly but like unto distant thunder, " "They try to hear with their ears what their hearts already know."

      Hummy and several others silently wondered, What is life all about?