Wisdom Over Ivory

"As I stand here in this tight, confined space, all I can hear is groans, moans and then silence at varying intervals. There is a pungent stench, something foul in the air, that's for sure. It feels worse than any swamp I've ever played in... something uncomfortable. It feels unsteady, and there's a thickness in the air. If I were a more superstitious mammal, I would say there is a stink of death in the air. The increasing temperature as it hits midday is not helping things feel any fresher or more comfortable.

Let's just say that it's not the place I would have chosen for this meeting, whatever it may be.

Standing here, waiting, has me thinking.

I've never understood it. Though our intelligence is often debated, I doubt anyone understands what 'they' do.

It's not like they get to enjoy a sumptuous and juicy steak or burger from their act of terrorism against my kind.

It's not like there is this real shortage where life depends on one of the very things that makes my kind what we are being cruelly ripped from us.

Those would be reasons I'd find it much harder to argue against. I'm sure I could still think of choice words to combat their calls for the continued slaughter and decimation, but at least they'd have something approaching an argument based on more than just "ivory is high value".

The time I spend with my brethren and other animals is what I consider valuable. The scent and feel of the morning dew, the warm sun on my back, splashing in the water with my kin. That's what's truly valuable.

I remember my brothers, who had long passed, though they are now, spraying me with water when I was but a young calf.

I'll always cherish those memories, the way my brothers would tumble around and race each other back to our parents. The times when we just lazed around, letting the flies land on our backs and trunks. Even now, when I drop my trunk into the water and give it a playful spray, I think back to those days.

I also remember vividly calling out to them as the humans cornered them, attacked them, and led them away to be slaughtered. Their groans and painful outcries soundtrack many of my dreams and nightmares.

My father called them the human disgrace. I have seen examples that both contradict and support that denunciation.

It's not enough for them to just gaze at our majesty or to employ our services when they need the help of our might. No. They have the same attitude toward everything they see in this world. Take, take, take until there's nothing left.

It's the way of things; that's what happened to my father.

I was still only young, and I remember calling out to him as they led him away.

You look like one of the men that led my father away. He was my world. He shaped me as an elephant into the male of the herd I am. My kin looks up to me, and it's because I reflect his most outstanding qualities.

Imagine, for a moment, please, you had children that had sought-after gifts. Gifts of high value that anyone would do anything to get and pay any price to obtain. The gifts did not solve man's problems, nor did they provide a solution for the earth's problems. What's more, extracting those gifts from your children and your offspring would cause them untold pain, misery and eventually death. How much would you be willing to accept in exchange for your own flesh and blood?

Some of my kin say, "But man does what man does," like it doesn't matter. It doesn't in the grand scheme of things. We don't have a voice that can sound in protest at their brutality.

Even if we did, though, would many of them listen? I like to think they would if they could, but then I remember...

Do they listen to the outcries against war, class divides, religious disputes, fights, and the world's ever-depleting forests, rainforests and natural resources? Do they ever really listen to the calls against sex trafficking, malnutrition, and genocide of their own people?

So, I won't hold my breath that this special place I am being taken to is not just some warehouse where they can kill me for my tusks."

*

Thanks for reading!

Author's Notes: This is for Belle's awesome Inside the Animal's Mind unofficial challenge. I think I got a bit carried away with the word count!

Here is a link to the challenge:

Here is a link to a recent poem that touches on the same subject: