Sweat glistens off the fur of the fierce predator, the midday sun beating down, relentless and unforgiving. The heat being more than enough to make most creatures reside in the shade or somewhere hidden from the sun's beams, few things would be motivation enough to make anything venture out into its wrath; but hunger is one of the best motivators.
The tiger peers out through the grassy knoll where it's hidden, observing a herd of antelope drinking water from a pond. It looks at each and every one, thinking, waiting for the perfect opportunity to turn the most unfortunate of the antelope into the meal of the day.
The tiger knows that it can't outrun the antelope. It knows from experience that no matter how much it pushes itself, no matter how much it tries the antelope will usually always outrun it. So the tiger knows that its best bet is to try to use stealth and strategy. It knows it needs to hunt its prey carefully. So it does. The bushes move ever so slightly as the tiger moves closer and closer to the herd of antelope, using the natural foliage of the African Savannah to get as good of a vantage point as possible. The fierce and mighty creature knows exactly which antelope it's going for.
One of the older antelope veers off slightly from the rest of the herd. Not paying attention, just wanting to get a drink and maybe graze a little it drifts off farther than it realizes.
The tiger waits patiently for the old antelope to come closer and closer to it, knowing that the time to strike is near. It's so close it can already taste it, the rumbling in the tiger's stomach grows stronger as the anticipation of the hunt nears the end. The tiger crouches low, concentrating on one thing and one thing only. The thrill of the kill and the adrenaline that is flowing through her right now almost makes her forget about the pan in her stomach.
The old antelope finishes drinking his fill of water and looks up. It looks up and notices that his herd is a good distance away. As it decides to make its way back over to his herd, it looks into the brush, locking eyes with the tiger. In the moment that followed it seemed that the world was moving ten times slower. It knew that this were its final moments and it knew that his sacrifice would mean that the others would get to live to see another day. And looking into the green eyes that meant the end of his life, he accepted it.
The tiger leaps!!
Thousands of miles away from the tiger and her fresh meal, a house cat lays in a sunbeam, taking a nap. It lays there not worried about a single thing, food or shelter or anything else cause all of it has been provided for it. It wakes up to the sound of its owner shaking a bowl of her favorite food. Every single morning at this time the cats owner comes outside and places the food bowl on the porch for the cat, like clockwork. The cat jumps off the couch and runs outside through the cat door to its dish. After her meal she walks around outside, wandering and exploring, maybe casually hunting a little before it heads back to the porch to keep eating. At this moment in time both the house cat and the tiger happily eat their meal. So many differences and yet so many similarities; and that's okay. For even though they live so very differently, they both have the pride of a mighty tiger.
About the Creator
Ronny Troyer
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