At peace with life

There was once a little swan and every time he flew down towards the water, he would see a perfect swan rise up to meet him; but once he had landed the other had vanished. 

 




Sometimes when he was quietly floating down the river on a calm day he would see the other swan beside him; but whenever he tried to paddle faster to get a good look, he would disappear.  Mostly the little swan could see his elusive friend out of the corner of his eye but if the river wasn’t calm, there was no sign of him.

One day when the sun was very low in the sky, and he was feeling rather lonely, out of the golden light appeared the biggest, whitest swan he had ever seen.  It glided alongside him without a sound and looked at him with large kindly eyes.
 

 

 

 

The little swan looked up timidly and knew he had to ask what was on his mind.  “Why is it that I can only glimpse my friend at certain times, but never if I am paddling fast to catch him?  He is so beautiful, I would like to see him more clearly.”

The big white swan turned his regal head and the setting sun turned all his feathers to gold.

“Your friend is your reflection in the water, the tranquil half of you.  You see him when you are at peace and all around you is calm; when the waters of life are not stirred up by the mud of confusion.  You lose him when you disturb the surface of the water, or around you there is commotion.  A swan’s first duty in life is to present a picture of pure unruffled tranquillity, of harmony with our surroundings, in order to be an example of how life should be.  Even when the water is rippled, or you are swimming hard against the current, imagine how you feel on the days when you can see your reflection.  And you will find yourself at peace.”

And with that, the great golden swan rose from the water and flew silently away.

 

Are we driving the seas to destroy us?

In the last century sea levels have increased at an average of 19cm globally, and in the last two decades, at more than twice the rate than any other time in history.  The UN has just put this short video on Twitter, airing the consequences:  http://buff.ly/Wke1KM 

It does not attempt to explain why these changes are occurring, though clearly, melting of the polar ice caps must play a large part.  But that in itself is an effect rather than a cause.  Sadly, mankind must take the blame when it comes to the massive changes going on in the natural world.

But leaving aside the effects of global warming, there is all the other harm we are causing to the oceans - using it as a burial ground for all our unwanted rubbish, for instance.  It is not difficult stories on the internet about the 'icebergs' of plastic items floating in the Pacific and causing untold harm to marine life.  As another recent UN film points out *, we need to recycle our waste if the harm we instigate is not going to come back and bite us.

 

NATURE’S LAW

As I walk along the beach the tide teases me – in, out.

In. Or out?
It sucks and blows, advances and retreats.
How tantalizing – does it know what it’s doing?
Yet every year it sucks a little more sand into its maw.
Every year it inches higher up the shore:
every year we lose a little more land.

 

The sea is winning, slowly,

taking away man’s foothold on life,
leaving us wailing.
Not to say whaling:
Who fishes the seas to extinction?
Not whales!
Who scours the seabed to death?
It’s not the cod or the haddock!
Who poisons the sea with toxins galore?
Not the inkjetting squid.
And it’s not the dolphin calls that break the sound barrier
and drive the whales to terminal madness.
So who can blame the sea for eating up the land,
When we’ve done so much to drive it to destruction?



* UN film http://bit.ly/1rnV2xm