wisdom
Sisters and brothers. Family and friends. Hunters, hunted, and all you honoured residents of the plains. I ask that you let me speak before you speak your mind. Set down your pain for a moment and hear what I have to say. The tears that fall from the side of my face mean less than my words, but know that I understand. A new call is sounding from our beloved wilderness: the cries of our conflict with man. He names us as perpetrators and justifies his actions while condemning ours, but it isn’t that simple. War and truth are shapes of many sides – each more alike than we realise. I have observed. I have pondered. And I have realised that man harms us not out of malice, but need. The need for more – an unfortunate adaptation of his kind – or the need for survival. His resources are dwindling as his population
swells, and in his desperation, he seeks his well- being above our own. Ask yourself: Would you act differently in his place? You see, we are mirrors of each other. For longer than my memory serves, man has roamed, like you, Leopard; sought freedom, like you, Eagle; and expanded his territory, like me and my herd. We are not so different in what we seek. Only in how far we go to claim it. We are all drawn forward by longing – it is how we walk that makes the difference. There is no end in sight for man’s expansion. He craves progress as Cheetah craves the chase. You may see his creeping return to the wilds as an invasion, but I remind you that we have always shared this home. It was not we who forgot this truth, and we must remember it now.
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