While we're mucking around here today, totally lost in feelings, I'd like to share something I found in today's "San Francisco Chronicle". The feature is "Earth Week: A Weekly Diary of the Planet":
Baboon Revenge
More than 30 angry baboons killed a man out of revenge in the Tororo district of southeastern Uganda, according to a report from the New Vision newspaper. A local council official said that the human victin, Okecho, killed a male baboon for damaging his maize and banana plantations. More than 30 other baboons converged at Okecho's compound and "mourned like human beings" before carrying their fallen comrade into the forest. Neighbors said that the animals later returned and stormed the farmer's house, knocking down the door. A New Vision reporter reaching the scene saw Okecho lying in a pool of blood with a large hole in his chest where the heart had been pulled out.
This is a fascinating weekly feature in my local paper. One article recently described how a dolphin had carried her dead newborn baby in her mouth, while the other dolphins comforted her and helped her mourn, until the baby finally decomposed.
I'm not sure where I'm going here. The universe just seems to be flooded with feelings right now, and I thought somehow that it was important to point out that they are not unique to the human condition, that the higher animals, at the least, experience all the ranges of joy and pain that we do.
Life is so full of pain sometimes that there must be some wonderful reason why, but I cannot think of it at the moment.
Christine |
