Elee and the Ele-phant

Screen Shot 2014-02-06 at 9.08.40 PMIt was amazing. Up close and personal once again. But this time up close to an elephant who loved me…loved me because I had food. I felt loved and a bit scared. But isn’t that how love works? Love and fear sometimes go hand and hand. This animal could have taken me out but for the food and her Mahout. She is blind and so she could only tell sounds and the sweet smell of food; and really it was but a peanut sized snack I had for her.  Still, if she had wanted, she could have pressed the issue and pushed me. Even her Mahout could not have stopped her. She did push a bit, and that was the love and the thrill. The smile on my face surprises me even now I see the photo; was I really that happy? At the same time, I know how happy I was to have contact with her and feel the thrill of such a primeval desire: food for her and for me at least, some sort of love and fleeting belonging.  We all need it and heck, I was simply giving her a cucumber at this point! The smile is as real as the cucumber I fed her. It was awesome. An animal that at any point could have charged me as far as I knew; but there was an animal who felt a sense of love and belonging – that animal was me.

 

Leave a Reply