Улыбки мироздания
Удивительное дело, именно в мой день рождения, внезапно, после полутора лет безысходного ожидания, Ozon радостно сообщи что в продаже появилась Dancing the dream на английском языке.
Но еще более удивительно то, что после многочисленных добавлений наценок за доставку, вычитаний накопленных бонусов и специальных скидок, стоимость книжки оказалась аккуратно 777 рублей. ))))
С учетом того, что автор книги всегда был помешан на семерках - Мироздание про меня помнит )))
So the Elephants March
A curious fact about elephants is this: In order to survive, they
mustn't fall down. Every other animal can stumble and get back up again.
But an elephant always stands up, even to sleep. If one of the herd
slips and falls, it is helpless. It lies on its side, a prisoner of its
own weight. Although the other elephants will press close around it in
distress and try to lift it up again, there isn't usually much they can
do. With slow heaving breaths, the fallen elephant dies. The others
stand vigil, then slowly move on.
This is what I learned from nature books, but I wonder if they are
right. Isn't there another reason why elephants can't fall down? Perhaps
they have decided not to. Not to fall down is their mission. As the
wisest and most patient of the animals, they made a pact, I imagine it
was eons ago, when the ice ages were ending. Moving in great herds
across the face of the earth, the elephants first spied tiny men
prowling the tall grasses with their flint spears.
"What fear and anger this creature has," the elephants thought. "But he
is going to inherit the earth. We are wise enough to see that. Let us
set an example for him."
Then the elephants put their grizzled heads together and pondered. What
kind of example could they show to man? They could show him that their
power was much greater that his, for that was certainly true. They could
display their anger before him, which was terrible enough to uproot
whole forests. Or they could lord it over man through fear, trampling
his fields and crushing his huts.
In moments of great frustration, wild elephants will do all of these
things, but as a group, putting their heads together, they decided that
man would learn best from a kinder message.
"Let us show him our reverence for life," they said. And from that day
on, elephants have been silent, patient, peaceful creatures. They let
men ride them and harness them like slaves. They permit children to
laugh at their tricks in the circus, exiled from the great African
plains where they once lived as lords.
But the elephants' most important message is in their movement. For they
know that to live is to move. Dawn after dawn, age after age, the herds
march on, one great mass of life that never falls down, an unstoppable
force of peace.
Innocent animals, they do not suspect that after all this time, they
will fall from a bullet by the thousands. They will lie in the dust,
mutilated by our shameless greed. The great males fall first, so that
their tusks can be made into trinkets. Then the females fall, so that
men may have trophies. The babies run screaming from the smell of their
own mothers' blood, but it does them no good to run from the guns.
Silently, with no one to nurse them, they will die, too, and all their
bones bleach in the sun.
In the midst of so much death, the elephants could just give up. All
they have to do is drop to the ground. That is enough. They don't need a
bullet: Nature has given them the dignity to lie down and find their
rest. But they remember their ancient pact and their pledge to us, which
is sacred.
So the elephants march on, and every tread beats out words in the dust:
"Watch, learn, love. Watch, learn, love." Can you hear them? One day in
shame, the ghosts of ten thousand lords of the plains will say, "We do
not hate you. Don't you see at last? We were willing to fall, so that
you, dear small ones, will never fall again."
Но еще более удивительно то, что после многочисленных добавлений наценок за доставку, вычитаний накопленных бонусов и специальных скидок, стоимость книжки оказалась аккуратно 777 рублей. ))))
С учетом того, что автор книги всегда был помешан на семерках - Мироздание про меня помнит )))
So the Elephants March
A curious fact about elephants is this: In order to survive, they
mustn't fall down. Every other animal can stumble and get back up again.
But an elephant always stands up, even to sleep. If one of the herd
slips and falls, it is helpless. It lies on its side, a prisoner of its
own weight. Although the other elephants will press close around it in
distress and try to lift it up again, there isn't usually much they can
do. With slow heaving breaths, the fallen elephant dies. The others
stand vigil, then slowly move on.
This is what I learned from nature books, but I wonder if they are
right. Isn't there another reason why elephants can't fall down? Perhaps
they have decided not to. Not to fall down is their mission. As the
wisest and most patient of the animals, they made a pact, I imagine it
was eons ago, when the ice ages were ending. Moving in great herds
across the face of the earth, the elephants first spied tiny men
prowling the tall grasses with their flint spears.
"What fear and anger this creature has," the elephants thought. "But he
is going to inherit the earth. We are wise enough to see that. Let us
set an example for him."
Then the elephants put their grizzled heads together and pondered. What
kind of example could they show to man? They could show him that their
power was much greater that his, for that was certainly true. They could
display their anger before him, which was terrible enough to uproot
whole forests. Or they could lord it over man through fear, trampling
his fields and crushing his huts.
In moments of great frustration, wild elephants will do all of these
things, but as a group, putting their heads together, they decided that
man would learn best from a kinder message.
"Let us show him our reverence for life," they said. And from that day
on, elephants have been silent, patient, peaceful creatures. They let
men ride them and harness them like slaves. They permit children to
laugh at their tricks in the circus, exiled from the great African
plains where they once lived as lords.
But the elephants' most important message is in their movement. For they
know that to live is to move. Dawn after dawn, age after age, the herds
march on, one great mass of life that never falls down, an unstoppable
force of peace.
Innocent animals, they do not suspect that after all this time, they
will fall from a bullet by the thousands. They will lie in the dust,
mutilated by our shameless greed. The great males fall first, so that
their tusks can be made into trinkets. Then the females fall, so that
men may have trophies. The babies run screaming from the smell of their
own mothers' blood, but it does them no good to run from the guns.
Silently, with no one to nurse them, they will die, too, and all their
bones bleach in the sun.
In the midst of so much death, the elephants could just give up. All
they have to do is drop to the ground. That is enough. They don't need a
bullet: Nature has given them the dignity to lie down and find their
rest. But they remember their ancient pact and their pledge to us, which
is sacred.
So the elephants march on, and every tread beats out words in the dust:
"Watch, learn, love. Watch, learn, love." Can you hear them? One day in
shame, the ghosts of ten thousand lords of the plains will say, "We do
not hate you. Don't you see at last? We were willing to fall, so that
you, dear small ones, will never fall again."