We are all waiting to become part of stars.
Sooner or later death will smile on us all, and whether we are eaten by worms, or feed the soil around a tree, we will cease to be.
That is the natural order of things.
What isn't so ordinary is the rate at which humans are bumping off all the other species we share this planet with!
In this "Gone in a Storm of Dandelions" wall art print, I reflect a little on that thought.
The picture features a whole herd of elephants drinking at a water hole.
- In the 1930s and 1940s there were an estimated 3 - 5 million African Elephants
- In 1979 that number had dropped to 1.3 million
- In 2021 that number is estimated to be 415,000
In the foreground you can see a Lion.
- In 1950 there were an estimated 500,000 Lions in Africa.
- In 1975 that number had fallen to 200,000
- Today that number is estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000
In the picture there is a feeling that they are blurring away, somehow becoming a little indistinct.
Like a scene in a movie set in a bleak future where everywhere is surrounded by technology and concrete and buildings.
But no trees.
No nature.
No animals.
Picture a woman eating popcorn in a movie theatre.
She is watching a nature documentary of a recent-past where animals roamed freely, and there was an open-savannah of wildlife and life and vibrance.
Now gone, like blowing on the seeds of a dandelion.
Once whole.
Quickly lost.
The screen splutters and the image disappears.
All around us we blow easily on the dandelions of deforestation and animal extinction.
In the centre the Lions eyes still burn brightly.
The eyes are the windows to the soul and they are the last to close even when the storm rages.
Don't let them.
