Definitions of Self

Due to a number of focused thoughts, movies, and magazine articles I’ve encountered recently, I began thinking about how we define ourselves as individuals. What makes us who we are? There are so many labels we can attach to ourselves, but the labels are always insufficient. In the end, what is it that captures the essence of each unique and irreplaceable identity that comprises humanity? Of course the answer, if there is one, is complex and not easy to find.

I’ve encountered this question before, most recently in having to write an “About the Author” piece for a book I have in the works. It’s not easy to talk or write about yourself without sounding pompous or boring. I mean, you can’t just write an “I was born on such and so, and I did this, and this, and this.” Come on! Who wants to read that drivel? Not me, I can tell you—and yet I had to come up with something that covered the ground without putting the reader to sleep or making me sound like a conceited ass.

Part of all this includes how we THINK about ourselves. For instance, I’m a wife; I am not a mother (of human kids anyway); I have a job; I have a dog and a horse; I have a car unique to me (yes, it’s customized); I grew up in a specific area of the country with a unique familial upbringing. All of those things would tell you a great deal about me—but that’s not who I am. I am not the political party I “belong” to (not at all!); I’m not the high school I graduated from, or the college(s) I attended. See what I mean? This is not easy to pin down!

After considering all the above-mentioned stuff about me, it occurred to me that perhaps the closest thing to what I would call “Me” is my mind and what goes on there: the thoughts, dreams, and aspirations that take up residence or just fly through, maybe taking me on to other thoughts, dreams, and aspirations. Am I the sum total of all the thoughts I’ve had in my lifetime, or am I what is there right now? Some of what was “there” in times past has since been rejected and replaced by other notions that I find more “at home” in my present circumstance. I’ve “changed my mind,” so to speak. Mind boggling, is it not?

Well, in the end, I had to finally compromise: I AM those labels I might pin on myself, but in addition, my mental and emotional world has to be given its own justifiable space too. I am a wife, employee, dog and horse mommy, writer—you name it. I am also the jumble of thoughts dealing with what I read in Scientific American this morning, Vogue Knitting the other day on my break at work, and Practical Horseman magazine that I digested last week. I am still pondering the movie Michael Clayton that I watched yesterday, as well as a movie trailer I saw two nights ago on Repo Men (Jude Law and Forest Whitaker). Are you getting dizzy yet? I sure am!

How Time Flies!

I had the veterinarian out a couple of weeks ago to do my horse Hadarah’s teeth and got a shock. As many of you know, I’ve had horses in one way or another much of my life, and I’ve had Hadarah since she was six-months-old, so she’s like my kid—or at least the closest thing I will ever experience to having children. Anyway, when the vet asked how old she was, I thought she was about 23 or so. Since Hadarah is in really great shape, most people don’t think she’s even that old, so when I dug out her registration papers the other day, I got a surprise!—She’s 25! The vet thought she was in really terrific shape, even for 23, except for her teeth, that is, and I have to face the fact that one of these days Hadarah will become a gummer.

Now I’m reading up on how to take care of OLD horses, something I’ve not had to do before, since most of them never live long enough to need hay or complete-ration pellets and start viewing hay or grass merely as entertainment. I’m glad though, to know that even as an old horse, I can still continue to ride and enjoy my equine partner for many more years yet. I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to those research institutions that have made this possible! It will indeed be a very sad day when Hadarah and I part company, and I’m happy to know that it’s still some years down the road.

All of this was in preparation to getting my own backside into the saddle again—something I haven’t done for about the past year. I’ve had my own health problems, but one of the main reasons why I quit riding was because my ortho Doc really scared me. Now, she knew when I got my total knee replacement several years ago that I planned to continue riding, and she didn’t tell me I couldn’t. What she did tell me was that I could NOT fall off, or I would break my leg right below where the prosthesis ends in my tibia. Well Jeez, that put the fear of God into me! Granted, I really don’t fall off anymore, unless there are mitigating circumstances, but one never knows when a horse might shy and there you are looking up from the ground! All the same, that news scared me to death, because what would I do then?

Well, I’ve chewed over this news for the past year or so. I continued to pay my horse’s board and buy her treats, but considering that horses are very expensive creatures to maintain under the best of circumstances (you don’t want to know how much the vet bill was for the teeth, general exam, and shots mentioned above), it rankled that I was now too scared to hop on and go for a ride—me, who has taken several years worth of riding lessons and paid out a small fortune buying horse tack through the years!

Finally, I just said, “To heck with it! Life is too short not to enjoy what we love! If I break my leg, I break it, and we shall just deal with it then! So there!” This week I’ve been on vacation, and I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time every day with Hadarah—and yes, we have gone for some rides I loved it, and yes, it’s just like riding a bicycle—you never forget how!

The Gushing Continues

Like everyone else I know, I watch in agony and disbelief as the oil from BP’s destroyed Deep Water Horizon well continues vomiting crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It has been for the past 60 days—TWO MONTHS now! BP tells us the end is in sight—in August? Tell me, do any of you still believe anything BP’s talking heads have to say?

As bad as it is, I must tell you that this isn’t the worst oil spill ever—aside from the Exxon Valdez mess in Alaska, it’s only the best publicized. I guessed there were worse ones out there, since the Media was touting this one as “the worst in U.S. history.” Selective journalism, tsk, tsk. In case you are wondering, here is a list of the five worst oil spills on record, according to Mother Nature Network on-line:

1. The Gulf War = 360,000,000 gallons (about 100x the current BP spill)
2. Ixtoc 1 = 138,000,000 gallons
3. Atlantic Empress = 90,000,000 gallons
4. Nowruz Oil Spill = 80,000,000 gallons
5. Exxon Valdez = 10,800,000 gallons

We don’t yet know where the BP spill in the Gulf will finally stack up.

That this has become a political football should surprise no one. First of all, let me remind all of you that our troubles concerning federal support of Big Oil began many decades ago. Most of us never knew (or have forgotten) that the Bush family made its fortune in Texas oil, and always believed it was in its best interests to rubber stamp anything the petroleum companies wanted. You’ve heard of de-regulation? There was never much federal Reg-ulation to start with, and oil companies pay very little of the cost of doing business—WE pay for it, in the name of keeping the costs of oil exploration (and doing business) low. They pay no taxes, so you can see why this disaster is such a big deal—I mean aside from the actual disaster itself. It should not have surprised anyone that Elizabeth Birnbaum, the recent head of MMS (Minerals Management Service, the government agency charged with supervising oil companies operations) was so cozy with the oil companies (there are multiple accusations involving her and various employees of the agency) that she was forced to resign. None of this is new, and it is all inherited baggage from several previous Presidential Administrations, Democrat as well as Republican.

BP has been an especially notorious offender where worker’s rights and safety are concerned. It accounts for 97% of the violations OSHA has handed out over the past three years, amounting to a whopping total of 760 “egregious violations. In comparison, Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had 8, Citgo had two, and Exxon had only one during that time (OSHA). Most of us never heard about the explosion at the BP Texas refinery in March, 2005 or the leaks at their Prudhoe Bay pipeline almost one year later.

So, while some of us are cheering that President Obama secured $20 billion in an escrow account to help people and businesses hurt by this disaster, what is Rep. Barton (R) of Alabama saying? We owe BP an apology for such a shakedown? I thought I was going to vomit. This fund was put together so people could get the money BP owed them in a timely manner, without having to spend years in court haggling over whether they even had any claims. Remember the Exxon Valdez? After initially agreeing to pay all the costs associated with damages and clean-up, Exxon went to the courts for 20 years to fight it. When duly-elected representatives in this country are uttering such complete and asinine drivel, do they wonder WHY the people place no trust in them anymore? When you hear words such as these, there should be no question in your mind who this man calls his constituents—and it ain’t the people of Alabama who voted for him.

As horrible as this disaster is, I have to say that BP’s CEO Tony Hayward has made it seem even worse. Who could possibly be a more incompetent representative for his company than this unconcerned, self-indulgent, supercilious clown? The only thing he genuinely cares about is whether he will lose money—or maybe his job. If BP had been truly alarmed by the extent of the destruction, the company management (including Mr. Hayward) would have been down there in the trenches from the very beginning actively doing everything possible to contain this mess. They didn’t even have a real back-up plan in place (theirs was a rubber-stamped version from the Exxon Valdez spill, as evidenced by the fact that they planned to save endangered seals and walruses), plus the company representative named to call in emergencies had been dead for five years. There weren’t any relief wells in place, as is required in many places throughout the world, and only in the past few days has BP begun drilling them. Yes, Mr. Hayward, if you had been down there in your coveralls getting your hands dirty scooping up tar balls or cleaning pelicans, I could possibly forgive you—but you weren’t, were you? This week-end you were off to the Isle of Wight to watch your $450,000 yacht compete in a race. At least BP had the sense to finally put an American in charge of their claims process. Mr. Darryl Willis comes across like he cares, saying he volunteered for this assignment, because he was born and bred in Louisiana. Well Mr. Willis, if BP had come clean about the extent of this mess from the very beginning and called for all help possible, most of us would be lining up at your gas stations, rather than boycotting them! I sincerely hope your track record is an improvement over what we’ve seen so far.

So, I live way up here in Washington State (as do most of my friends). Like you, I’ve watched the daily newscasts with the “blow-by-blow” details and felt heartsick over the loss of wildlife, their habitat, and the complete collapse of a way of life that depends on fishing and tourism in the Gulf States. I’ve felt totally helpless in terms of giving any meaningful help in this situation. I mean, today we are actually planning on rescuing somewhere around 100 endangered manatees? Nobody ever figured it would come down to rescuing individual animals of this order. I don’t suppose we’re worried about saving sharks (then again, we probably are), but what about the coral beds, birds, turtles, dolphins, fish, and shrimp?—It boggles the mind. What on earth can I do? I know it almost sounds trite now, we’ve had so many unbelievable disasters this past year, but we CAN send money to organizations on the scene that are doing the work to clean up the Gulf and save wildlife. Here are a few responsible organizations that I personally endorse for donations:

The Louisiana Gulf Response Network (http://www.lagulfresponse.org/):

In the wake of the BP Oil Spill that is threatening our coast, local, regional and national conservation organizations are coordinating volunteers to assist in local, state and federal recovery efforts in Louisiana.

Our organizations - including
the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (http://www.btnep.org/home.asp),
the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (http://crcl.org/),
the National Audubon Society (http://audubon.org/),
the National Wildlife Federation (http://www.nwf.org/), and
The Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org/)
- are established, active advocates for the preservation and restoration of coastal Louisiana.

We are organizations with a history of on-the-ground work in Louisiana, and we are combining efforts and experience to implement an effective volunteer response and make a real difference in the BP Oil Spill recovery efforts.

Earth Day Revisited

I was so inspired after writing yesterday’s blog that I felt I had to add a bit more. For those of you who have decided you want to start living more responsibly, where do you start?

Okay, you’re doing the obvious things: using your own shopping bags, instead of plastic; recycling and reusing containers; maybe even driving a more energy-efficient vehicle. What about those “green” cleaning compounds I told you about? What about organic gardening? What about buying products more responsibly?
Recipes for household cleaning products are easily found on-line; or if you wish to just buy them, those are now available too. Just a few minutes ago I went on the Internet and did a Google search for “recipes: environmentally friendly cleaning products,” went to http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html , and downloaded their PDF of recipes for the most common cleaners. To be honest, I have to say I have not tried them myself, though you may remember how excited I was a few blog posts back when I discovered that plain rubbing alcohol was outstanding at cleaning up that greasy goo that collects on everything in the kitchen. No, I’ve taken the usual human way out and bought the Clorox Green cleaning collection (which is, by the way, backed by no less than the Sierra Club). I am excited about making some of these cleaners, because I really want to do as much as I can. Besides, it’s got to be less expensive, and I won’t be supporting some mega corporation that hasn’t necessarily been that green in the past. Money in my pocket and better for the planet at the same time; sounds like a deal to me.

What about getting a hybrid car? Toyota has made millions on sales of their Prius, and all the other car manufacturers are jumping on board. From BMW to Lexus and Chevy to Ford, models of every type of vehicle are now available as hybrids. Want a pick-up? The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab or Tahoe was made for you. What about and SUVs, America’s favorite type of vehicle? According to the Kelly Blue Book site on-line, there are now 16 models from a range of carmakers. Want a luxury hybrid? No problemo! Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz have stepped up to meet your needs. There’s even a luxury GMC Yukon for you.

But do you really NEED a NEW car? One thing I haven’t heard mentioned anywhere in all the hype about “Cash for Clunkers,” for example, is the fact that the manufacture of all those new cars is pretty polluting all on its own. Think about all the chemicals, etc. that go into making a car, and where does the energy come from to make it? Sorry folks, if it’s coming from coal-fired electrical plants, your “green” car ain’t so green anymore. Then there’s the electricity to charge the batteries. Does it come from a wind farm that is minimally polluting (those have environmental impacts of their own, but thankfully not ones involving so much CO2)—or does your electricity come from a coal-fired furnace? Some of us are really lucky, because our electrical energy comes from burning garbage, and I don’t even want to go there.

Everyone who drives a car can make sure it is running properly. Get a tune-up. That’s not beyond the reach of anyone. If you want a different vehicle, buy a used one that gets better gas mileage. The pollution from the manufacture of that vehicle went into the atmosphere a long time ago. And don’t drive anywhere you can reasonably walk. You probably need to get more exercise anyway, and being outside is not only healthier for you, but you will also look around and be more aware of the environment surrounding your home. Do you commute huge distances to your job? Consider getting a job closer to where you live, if at all possible. I know that it often isn’t, but it’s a consideration. You will be putting far less carbon into the atmosphere if you only drive six miles to work, rather than 25 or 30 miles every day. You will also be far safer, because one of the biggest risks in any of our lives is driving or riding in our cars. See if you can car pool. Many companies actively support carpooling, and in some places you can even get a free, fuel-efficient van from the state for the purpose of driving your group back and forth from work. One of the perks of carpooling is that you can drive in the car pool lane! Think of it: You can get to work much faster, less expensively, visit with people you know (hopefully they are friends), and save wear and tear on your own vehicle and nerves at the same time. You might consider taking the bus to your next destination, and then you won’t have to pay to park your car—or worry that it might be vandalized while you are there.

Well, I really need to wrap this up, but I think you can see how living a more green existence is well within the reach of anyone. It isn’t hard, and you don’t have to move away, live in a log cabin, and start eating nuts and berries—unless that’s what you really want to do! Just start doing something, and think about what you do. If you see some trash on the ground, pick it up. Use the KISS principle, and before long you will be coming up with ideas of your own that never even occurred to me!

Happy Earth Day, World!

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Earth Day celebration. It’s hard to believe it’s been around that long, and as one of the original OSPIRGers (Oregon State Public Interest Group, started by students at the University of Oregon in the 60’s with Ralph Nader’s backing), I have a great deal to cheer about, in terms of progress made and battles won for the environment in the intervening years. There is also a great deal not to cheer about.

I am not a fanatical environmentalist, but it saddens me deeply when I see natural areas devastated by private interests whose only concerns are making a quick buck, or trash thrown down by some uninvolved (and lazy) passerby. It takes so very little time, energy, and money to do a great deal of good; but it also (obviously) takes even less time and effort to do nothing. The thing that worries me, however, is how long it may take for Joe or Jane Q. Public to wake up and realize that there’s a problem. How long before they start doing anything to change? Anything at all would be a start!

Yes, we OSPIRGers got the Oregon Bottle Bill passed back in 1969 (I believe), which was immediately followed by several sister organizations springing up across the country pushing similar legislation through their respective state legislatures. Yes, we members of the Eastern Oregon Environmental Council (another college group I was part of—I was secretary, among other things) got out the write-in vote for S.T. Minam (Save the Minam—now a part of Eagle Cap Wilderness Area, where Sam and I spend a considerable amount of our vacation time) when our US Representative Al Ullman wanted to make it into a “multi-use area” years ago. He lost the election to S. T., backed off, and to the amazement of nearly everyone, worked to make the Minam River drainage part of the US Government Wild Rivers Act. Eagle Cap was made a Wilderness Area in the wake of the Minam River action, and there is even talk nowadays of making it into a National Park. See what can happen when YOU get involved? It even amazes me at times, but I didn’t do any of this myself. I was only one of many of concerned citizens who saw something happening that they believed was wrong—and got off their backsides and did something about it.

Much has been accomplished in the past 40 years, but so much remains that it’s enough to depress anyone into doing nothing. Now I live in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, and I hear news that grieves and disheartens me every single day. One of the symptoms of depression is a state of inaction, but I say what it should do is make me angry—very angry, and angry enough to fight about it.

One thing I learned while writing the posts about killer whales (orcas) is that they are not considered endangered world-wide, but the Puget Sound killer whales are, however—NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency focused on the conditions of the oceans and atmosphere) has placed them on their endangered list. We had a local population of 88, until eight of them simply disappeared in 2008—that’s 10% of our local killer whale population, folks! As far as I know, no one knows to this day what happened to them. This year five gray whales have died in Puget Sound thus far. I hear on the news that it is not unusual for this to happen as they migrate south from Alaska to their breeding grounds off Baja California, and this is an El Niño year, so the food chain in the Pacific Ocean is skewed. Not surprisingly, the post mortems have shown that these whales starved to death, but what is alarming is that their stomachs were full of plastic bags, sweat pants, and all manner of indigestible trash. Did they ingest this stuff along with whatever else they were eating, or were they eating it because that’s all there was? Either way, the answers are disturbing.

Sam and I recently vacationed in Pacific City, Oregon, and on the drive home we stopped at a little spot up the coast near Netart’s Bay. I don’t know the name of the place, but these people are engaged in research and growing oyster larvae for the big commercial outfits. They were kind enough to give us an impromptu tour (I got to look at two-day-old oyster larvae through the microscope! They look just like oysters, except they are transparent and swim around like crazy.), and a brief from-the-hip lecture on their concerns. National Geographic Magazine had been there just one week before filming, so these people know what they are talking about. They told us that there is a problem with the PH in the Pacific Ocean; it’s becoming too acid, and nobody knows why. Some people have some guesses, but no one knows for sure. Anyway, it doesn’t take much acidification to dissolve baby oysters’ shells, and that’s what’s happening all over the ocean, so if the problem isn’t solved soon—and I mean very soon—oysters may be extinct, because they can no longer reproduce viable offspring. You know, I had been worried about the environment before, but that news scared me.

The list of scary news could go on and on, but I don’t wish to bore you. What I would like to do instead is challenge those of you who read this to examine your lives and see what small changes you can make that will make a difference in the world around you. Pick up your trash and put it in the appropriate can, NOT the Recycle bin—AND put your recyclables in there. Don’t toss soda pop cans in the garbage. Aluminum cans take a great deal of energy (in the Great Northwest, that’s hydropower, elsewhere it’s coal-fired generators) to manufacture. Most solid waste companies, at least in the Puget Sound, don’t even require you to sort your recyclables anymore. Take your plastic bags to the store to be recycled—or better yet, replace them with your own tote bags. You can get them almost anywhere now, or even make your own. Keep that crap out of animals’ stomachs! And, when you buy products, buy environmentally friendly ones. With the huge push behind the Green Movement that’s been going on for the last couple of years, it’s easy to do. You may be quite surprised to learn that you can clean up the most horrible mess with simple, organic cleaning products, rather than buying the super-poisonous chemical ones we’re used to. You’ll SAVE MONEY too, while you’re doing the planet a favor. What could be easier than that? What could be better? Basically, just don’t be a planet slob. Be responsible, like a grown-up. You are one, aren’t you?

In Fairness, My Last Word

In the interest of fairness, I went to Sea World’s Website to check them out, and I did learn a few things. Since 1965 they have rescued and rehabilitated over 17,000 stranded, sick, or injured animals, and they do conduct an endangered species breeding program. You may be interested to know that Tilikum (I’ve been misspelling his name), also affectionately known as Tily, was caught in November, 1983 near Iceland—remember the US Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972? Apparently other nations don’t feel shy about violating it and then selling the whales to us (while the Marine Mammal Protection act put a stop to Pacific Ocean captures, it didn’t end those occurring near Iceland). Tily is currently the largest orca in captivity, weighing in at around 13,000 lb., or about six-and-a -half tons. At this moment, there are 42 captive orca whales (according to Wikipedia), and Tily is the sire of 15 of them per the most recent head count.

Blog posts at Sea World’s site are full of comments about the recent incident, but what interested me was that a number of people, including youngsters, stated how inspired they had been by the work being done there. One young person wanted to become a veterinarian, for example. I can honestly say I can applaud much of what the people at Sea World are doing. It is not cheap to rescue and rehabilitate wild animals, but that is not what is happening with the orca population there—or if whales are being rehabbed, that does not seem to be the main thrust of the program. Also, I wonder how much it costs to keep 29 orca trainers employed, not counting the staff required to take care of the animals. That can’t be cheap either. Trained killer whale shows are big business, and many people don't want to admit it.

I would sincerely like to know what kind of conditions these animals live in? Are they happy? Do they engage in a healthy social life, or are they isolated from each other-and if so, why and how often? These are questions I can’t answer without going there and seeing first-hand, and frankly, that won’t be happening, because I can’t afford it!

I could not find out how many shows are done weekly at Sea World in Orlando, Florida, but the (on-line only) purchase of a ticket to Sea World guarantees you one visit anytime within one year from the date of purchase. With that ticket you can visit a second time free within seven days of your initial visit. The price of an adult ticket on-line is $78.95, and a child’s ticket is $68.95. If you buy a ticket good for two parks, it will cost $109.95 for one adult and $99.95 for one child. The bonus is that with a multipark ticket, you get unlimited admission, plus free round-trip transportation between Sea World and Busch Gardens. Wow! That’s a pretty good deal, but at the same time, only available to people with the time and money to go there, and that leaves a lot of us out.

You might be interested to know that there is an effort being mounted to return Lolita, the solitary remaining whale at the Miami Seaquarium, to the wild in her native waters off Puget Sound. According to researchers, she still vocalizes in the unique language shared by the Puget Sound orcas—which NOAA has listed as endangered. Apparently the Board of the Seaquarium has not yet ratified the agreement put forward by the Orca Network ( http://www.orcanetwork.org/) , and based on what happened with Keiko, I question whether it is the right way to go. She should not have to remain isolated where she is, however, and I doubt many people would disagree with that.

Addendum: The Tragedy of Captive Killer Whales

I did not mention this, but one thing I cannot emphasize enough is that $$MONEY$$ is the real motivator for much of what is happening with the captive killer whale population in the United States. People can excuse having them by the need to study and understand them—which I personally can agree is important. The fact remains, however, that if Grandpa and little Suzie weren’t willing to cough up the big bucks for those Sea World tickets, the shows would not be happening. If you disagree with me, let me remind you that three movies and a TV series were made about Keiko (or a fictional killer whale in part patterned after him), and another one is due out soon. If we were truly interested in learning how to communicate with them and in what they are really like as creatures, it seems to me that we’d be studying them more in their natural environment, and we certainly wouldn’t be training them to do tricks.

While SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a noteworthy endeavor, what will happen if we ever do find someone out there? We’d better know how to communicate with someone other than ourselves (which we don’t do well either) if we have any dreams of it ending other than badly—for us. Remember The Day the Earth Stood Still starring Michael Rennie (1951), War of the Worlds starring Gene Barry (1953), or how about The Arrival, starring Charlie Sheen (1996)? I remember a Gahan Wilson cartoon in Playboy Magazine many years ago when I was in college that showed a huge gray amoeba-like alien oozing down the highway in the middle of a Southwestern desert scene, heading for a little restaurant on the horizon with a huge neon sign above it that said, “EAT.” If we do find intelligent alien life somewhere, we have a good chance of ending up just like our killer whales, unless they happen to be a benevolent species, such as the Vulcans in Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

The other thing I need to say is that I was taught from a very early age when working with the horses we had on our ranch not to EVER turn my back on a stallion. And, it’s never a good idea to turn your back on any animal that is larger, stronger, and faster than you. If they should decide to attack, then you have no clue it is coming until it is far too late. I was taught to never underestimate them, and to never take them for granted—no matter how much I loved them or thought they might love me. I ignored that advice a couple of times and was injured because I was foolhardy enough to do so. Lucky for me, I was not killed, but I have a hunch that Ms. Brancheau made this fatal error and paid dearly for it. A hunting animal will always look for the moment when the prey animal’s guard is down to move in, and who knows how Tillikum really regarded his trainers? An animal will never go against its true nature, and we disregard this fact at our peril.

Another thing to remember is that what may be play to them will harm us. I well remember one time when my six-month-old Arabian filly Mafdiy (whom I had been around since the moment of her birth) suddenly whirled around in front of me, kicked up her heels, and struck me on the point of the hip. I was her human "Mom," and I know it was intended as play, since we had been playing a version of Tag in the pasture, but she forgot that I was not just another horse. It was nothing more than a tap, but I was brought my knees in pain. It could have been far worse, and even then it was enough to hurt a great deal. She expressed afterwards that she was very sorry, but we never played like that again, and both of us learned a lesson.

I am reminded of an old Indian story which tells of a scorpion who wanted to cross a river, but he couldn’t unless he persuaded another animal to carry him across. None were willing to take him though, because he was a scorpion and would sting them and kill them. He was about to give up when finally a fox agreed to take him across, but he had to promise that he would not sting the fox. The scorpion said, “Well of course I won’t sting you! We’d both drown in the river and neither of us would get to the other side!” So the fox let the scorpion get on his back and swam into the river. All was going well, and they were about halfway across, when suddenly the fox felt a sharp prick in his back. In shock, he realized that the scorpion had stung him after all, and in a rage he screamed, “Scorpion, why did you sting me when you promised not to? Now we will both die, and it’s all your fault!” The scorpion said, “I know Fox, and I’m truly sorry; but you see, I’m a scorpion, it’s my nature to sting, and I couldn’t help myself.”