just another "payday"

You know sometimes when you go for a job interview

they give you problem-solving exercises to complete

as a way of evaluating your lateral thinking,

your understanding, empathy, and thoughtfulness

if you can work well as a team or on your own initiative

well...

have you ever thought much about the sheer effort it takes to move a dead elephant from a zoo or animal reserve? As is the way with these types of questions, you're now thinking of nothing else.

imagine being involved in the process,

in fact,

imagine being involved in the process the first time it was ever considered.

no technological advancements to help you

it's a brand-new procedure

you've been given the responsibility of making it happen.

you're faced with the mountainous, or elephantous task

have no access to anecdotal evidence

about the shifting of other large mammals.

what's the first question that comes to your mind next?

-

does the elephant need to be moved in one piece?

well unless it's required for some testing or analysis and needs to be intact, no.

so, now your problem has transformed

from moving an African Elephant that has fallen in death among its compatriots, to hacking the African Elephant into smaller, easier to manage chunks.

now, how do you cut an elephant into chunks, without saturating everything in the blood and entrails of the enormous, elegant, expired elephant?

piece by piece, chunk by chunk?

electric saw for the bones?

such a mighty beast

such a fitting feast

for the rich and feckless

the upper crust and thoughtless

who felled the mammal

translated descriptions

in languages like Tamil

package it

for buyers around the world

save the ivory from the tusks

for the richest, the reprehensible

how can you live with yourself once you process the lifeless chunks of a might mammal?

I wonder if anyone... just one poacher...

stops for a moment to pay their respects,

to give the mighty an appropriate send-off.

or is it

just another "job", another "payday"?

*

Thanks for reading!

Author's Notes: Another SoC piece, following my off-the-wall Paint Me and Venit Vidit Vicit, that took a weird, sad, angry turn while I was writing it.

Here are some other things...