Author’s Note
A warm welcome to my new followers and subscribers and greetings to all. Following is a short essay about current events.
Creatures on the Move
Beyond Fences and Enclosures
Something intriguing has been happening lately. The world has decided to get up and move.
In Texas, a giraffe named Gracie looked at her fence, decided it was a mere suggestion, and left. For two weeks she trotted around freely, like a 12-foot-tall rumor on the loose. People saw her in Ring cameras, in pastures, on highways, and wondered why nobody could catch her.
On the other side of the globe, in Papua New Guinea, a shark decided it was tired of swimming. It grew little muscular fins and started walking between tide pools at low tide. The scientists who discovered it marveled at it and called it “a new species.” Unimpressed, the shark ignored them and kept walking.
Then came the younger bipeds.
From Madagascar to Serbia to Albania, Gen Z Homo sapiens stood up and started nudging and prodding the powers that be. In Albania they called their movement the Flamingo Revolution to oppose building luxury resorts in areas where wild flamingos make their home. In Serbia they blocked bridges with books to protest corruption in politics. In Madagascar they blocked roads with pots and pans to show frustration over everyday living conditions. And in Japan, they demonstrated against plans to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution with concert-style light sticks, a most enlightened way to say, “we disagree.”
Gracie the giraffe is safe now. The walking shark is still walking. The kids are still out there with their flamingo signs and light sticks, refusing to be shaped by social molds they find objectionable.
If they could talk, I suspect even pigeons would probably object to being pigeonholed. Who wouldn’t? Most living things see fences and enclosures as merely suggestions. After all, we’re all a little like Gracie the giraffe, walking sharks, and light sticks glowing in the dark. Right?
DCW
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