I'm a changed woman.
I mean, I am always changing, but some changes are more meaningful than others.
Life changing. Perspective changing. Spirit changing. Soul changing. The elephants can't help it.
Without even seeing them, you sense them. 6 tons of isolated consciousness, breathing, focusing, feeling ... on the grandest scale of all. Elephants exert a gravitational pull they are so massive. Like little Earths on Earth. Even sleeping over 100 yards away, their presence comforts. A forced meditation for all that surround them. A lesson in patience just to contemplate them. A lesson in gentle relations. A lesson in finely directed intelligence.
To be near an elephant, these things are unavoidable. They change anyone who comes into close, compassionate contact with them. They change the world we walk on. Even children whom have never seen an elephant in real life, I am convinced, are affected by elephants living somewhere on this Earth. It is my goal to make sure this endangered species exists in this world.
This world is a better place with elephants in it.
7 Comments:
I love the gentle energy that comes from an elephant! How beautiful that you are able to get into the water and bathe them!
My heart still breaks when I recall a visit to an elephant orphanage. For the most part, the elephants were happy and having a great time. However, the "lead" elephant (I forget the term for him) was shackled so that he couldn't lead the herd away. He seemed so sad and it broke my heart. I wanted him to be free, with the rest of the elephants.
That's a beautiful picture!
Lots of love to you,
Wendi
XOXOXO
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The term for the lead elephant was probably Matriarch. He was probably a she, since elephants' complex social groups consist of exclusively females and their children. Beginning at the age of 9 (that would be early), the males are encouraged to leave (kicked out?) by the females. From there the males often satellite around their mother's heard for some time, eventually finding a small group of independent males to spar and socialize with, or just remain solitary depending on their personalities.
During periods of abundant rains or when food is plentiful, males may wander into the female social groups to feed, staying short term. During musht (heat for a male elephant) he will definitely find a female community, especially when there is an esterus female present. Females will often go into esterus when a musht male is near.
Gosh, I could go on. I adore these creature's too! In Thailand, it is cultural to "break" the elephant early. This breaking ritual is called the pajan and is so violently brutal that 60% of the young elephants die from the breaking alone. The ones that survive often have visible signs of mental illness and distress. Such a strange cultural ritual, especially when you consider that the Asian elephant in nearly extinct in Thailand. In only 100 years the Thai have effectively taken the Asian elephant population down from 100,000 to 500 wild elephants. And they violently abuse and kill the 2,000 domesticated elephants in order to teach them to paint paintings for tourists. And give rides to tourists. And beg on the streets in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
In other words, the elephants have every right to be violent back - they are intelligent enough. They are one of three species on Earth that pass the self-identification tests (the recognize themselves in a mirror and have a concept of "self") and they test at a 7 year old's intelligence, possibly far more intelligent if we could just test their specific elephant wisdom. Still, the go out of their way to be gentle to us. They have every reason not to, but they do not harm.
And they are raw vegans! 300 pounds of raw vegan food every day. Now ask me where I get my protein from.
Bless these creatures.
Hi Tonya,
I just found about you, googling for 'raw foodists'. You seem rather interactive (reachable) for a famous person. :D
Anyways.. I was reading some of your blog and I happen to share the same feelings about a lot of things. Unusual things. So, since I'm not alone in my weirdings, I'd like to say hello to you.
Hello, fellow introvert-in-disguise.
You nailed it on the head. I call it social introvert. I have social skills. In fact, I'm a performer - and a good one - so I'd hope that implies I understand the human condition quite well and can communicate other peoples' psychology right back to them in a way that engages. But just because I have social skills doesn't mean I'm an extrovert. No, no. In fact, I play shy most of the time when I am out soloing on the club dance floor. Introvert to me, is a path for energy recovery. Some people gain energy from socializing. Some people gain energy from being alone. I need and prefer quite a bit more alone time than most people I know, to put it gently.
And semantics (they work like magick!): I prefer the word celebrity to famous. Fame denotes semantically a simple awareness of existence - it leaves out the connotation of that awareness. Celebrities, however, semantically implies nothing about others' awareness of you, but your own knowledge that you are celebratable. And I definitely see my life as celebratable and I think everyone should! We are all celebrities if we accept how very celebratable we are.
Haha. I like playing semantics in my language but in English I'm just happy I can communicate half-efficiently :) What I meant as 'famous person' is 'that person on TV no-one I know will ever have a chance to talk to'. I don't actually watch TV.. and you're not actually that 'famous person' I was talking about :D
Good insight about 'social introvertism'. I too have social skills, but they were never natural. It's more like a technique I had to learn so I could interact properly.. But you know, I think it's not about being alone or not, it's about being with the right people. Because in a sense you are never alone. You create characters within yourself when you're alone so that you're not alone. And some people, which I can count on my left hand fingers how many I ever knew, have this thing that it looks like you're talking to yourself when you're with them.. Perhaps introverts are aliens that crashed on Earth by accident and adapted for survival but still don't feel this is home; then they're reserved when they're around 'humans', but when they meet another of their kind they're comfortable.
What a trip :D
(By the way I haven't slept in quite some time, so that's my excuse if this all looks like non-sense.)
Thanks for more info on the beautiful elephants, Tonya. I had tears in my eyes after reading about the "breaking" pajan. How horrible that people treat animals that way. It breaks my heart. :-(
I'm sure the wonderful creatures sensed the love coming from another creature while you were there. ;-)
Lots of love to you,
Wendi
XOXOXO
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