We call these tales of indomitable spirit. Each speaks of hope, strength, courage, and perseverance, whatever the circumstance, showing a vision of how the humanity present in us today shall flower unbowed on the morrow.
He watched them without moving. His tough, scarred armor almost invisible in the dappled shade. They knew he was somewhere close; he could feel their anticipation, those small creatures that could steal life from afar – with that sound! The same sound that sometimes came from above; from where the life-essence fell. He feared, and hated them from the core of his awareness! It was many times, that the sun and moon exchanged places above, he had seen and smelled the product of their deadly passage through the land. Others like him, and others so unlike him—death and decay – the harvest of the sound.
When he was young, he saw them for the first time. He was with the one who’s smell was the first he ever knew, the one from whom he drank, the one who protected him so many times – Mother. He heard it for the first time – the sound – followed by her cries of anger and pain. They came, they removed that part of her which was used to guide him and sometimes defend him from the others so unlike him. But there was no defense against the sound. He remembered the awful noises as they took it. All they left was cold loneliness. Soft breath – he would feel no more! Just the wet smell that he had come to know many times since.
At last, there were no more like him. He found the last one so long ago; no breath to it and its body cold. That part taken and only a foul-smelling hole where it used to stand – proud and prominent. He had searched over many changes of the sun and moon, even far away from the place he had known all his life – but he was alone. There would be no more young to teach, others to jostle with for the attention of those that gave birth to the young. There was nothing but more and more of them – and the sound.
So close, he could hear their breathing. A quick dash and he could steal life – as they had done so many times. There were so many of them; the sound would come – he will be no more. The loneliness will end. Could he be with the others again?
The sound! He felt nothing! Again and again the sound, he still felt nothing. They were moving around quickly—too much movement! The wet smell but—different! He ran from the shade towards the place where the life-essence fell and gathered. But a creature blocked his path. He knew these creatures too; big creatures that sometimes carried the smaller ones. They stank and moved much faster than he could. When they moved, they growled much like the predators he encountered in the dark – only much bigger and more fearsome.
One of these creatures faced him now; he had no choice but to steal its life. But the creature could not be defeated; he could not penetrate the hard skin! But why did it not fight back? He tired and stopped fighting. The creature was too strong. He waited for the attack – it never came. Then it was quiet; they were all around him. He felt a sharp pain in his side—but where was the sound? Suddenly, he felt so tired.
He was still tired when he stood again, his feet were unsure. There was something around his neck that he could not shake off. The place was strange to him; he was confused and scared. An almost invisible wall which he could only see from very close prevented him from moving wherever he wanted. He could see the land beyond but could not go there.
Many times now the sun and moon changed places and they were with him always. At first, he wanted to steal their life, but he learned they did not want that part of him. He became used to them. They followed him where ever he went, but he was still so lonely. He longed for the smell of those like him.
He remembered a time, even after the death of the one who bore him, when others like him were plentiful. He had lived and known the gatherings at the place of the life-essence, where he chose the one that gave him the young that had his smell. Sometimes he had to fight the others who wanted her. He would have to use that part of him – but never to take away the breath!
None were left now, and time stretched on.
The light times were getting difficult—the dark times even worse. There were pains in his body, and it was becoming more and more difficult to see. Breathing was not as easy as it used to be, and he could not stand for long anymore; much of his time spent in the shade. He never heard the sound again.
Images of a happier time faded when he heard them. Many of them came, perhaps today they would come to claim that part of him. He stood up and bowed his head. They touched him as they always did but for the first time, he felt their sadness. It was in the sounds they made and in their gentle touch. Why was it not always so? He felt a familiar sharp pain in his side.
He lay down in the dappled shade.
A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE – March 19, 2017
NAIROBI — Suffering from multi infections in his advanced age and not able to stand Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino was euthanized Monday by a veterinary team in Kenya. They struggled for years to save him as the last of the species. Sudan narrowly escaped death ten years ago after being saved in a shootout between Game Rangers and poachers. His advanced age was probably the reason why he was incapable of breeding. Only two now remain—his daughter, Najin, and granddaughter, Fatu—leaving in-vitro fertilization from his preserved sperm as the last hope against extinction. Sudan, was 45 years old when he died.
