The Way of Life

The Way of Life





As the stars catch sight of the waking dawn, they hide patiently, blending in to wait for the rich black African night to return.

Once the sun has embraced the land, the animals know, they’ve watched it happen every day of their delicate lives, that it has begun.

At first it is silent, then a sound rumbles like a bolt of soft thunder in the distance, then it seems to get louder, and louder. Then, a quiet moment, right before...before the stampede.

And the impala run, run down the steep slope to safety, almost like they are flying away, or elegantly sliding, from the chasing predators. Pounding their feet into the dust and sand, nothing on their mind but to get away! Run, run, is all they know. As a group they rumble, and they are now running without the momentum of the tall slope. But the predators get closer and closer, until… it happens. A baby leg is caught on a root. Onlookers’ hearts retract and stop. The silence of the moment presses hard. Even harder as the predator gets closer. The impala is running out of time, the door to hope and to life is almost closed.

But suddenly, the tables turn. Another stampede is coming. The impala are now not the only ones in danger. The new stampede chases the impala’s predator just in time for the baby to get away.

The pressing stops, and hearts return to their normal speed of beating. A disaster has just ended and begun in such a short period of time. This will happen many more times on this very day. Fear, relief, sadness, joy. But sometimes there won’t be a happy ending. This is their way of life. The effort it takes to get a single meal. The instability of never knowing where it will come from, or if you will be the next meal for someone else. But still these animals live on, with the rhythm of their fast pace life. The roller coaster of the African savannah.




A small boy wakes up. He is on a cushioned mattress covered in layers of soft comfortable fabric, in a bright spacious room. He gets up, and pads slowly down stairs rubbing his eyes. His mom greets him with a hug and a warm bowl of oatmeal with lots of sugar. He is safe. He is happy. He is calm. His dad comes downstairs and gives him a great big hug and lifts him into the air. He is giggling beyond control.

His mom goes to the fridge and packs him a nice lunch for his school day. The food is easy to access and there will never be a shortage of it.

The boy is bundled up in a warm jacket, for the wind is slightly brisk today. His mother and father wait for him at the bus stop. Goodness! He has forgotten his mittens! He giggles as his parents shake their heads in mock disapproval. He grabs his mittens just in time for the bus to come. His parents kiss him goodbye and wish him a nice day. He steps on the bus and takes a seat. As he looks out the window, he knows today might not be perfect. That the questions might be hard in school, or maybe he will leave something at school, but ultimately he will be fine. There will be enough food. He is not in danger. There will be issues in his life, he might have a hard time, but there is always hope. He will live with in the beat of an ocean wave. Sometimes rough and rocky, and sometimes calm and consistent. This is the way of life.

***I know that life is obviously harder than this, and problems do occur more often in human life than I have written, but I just wanted to show how sometimes in the wild it is a matter of life and death, but in the human world, it is different.