Elephants

Not a subject I frequently thought about until I read (listened to) Leaving Time. It was about lots of things like love and determination and lying and all the regular things but mostly it was about elephants. Now every time elephants are in the news I am reading the item as if I am an expert nodding my opinions. In the Sunday times there is an article about the Bronx Zoo and an elephant who is alone and lonely. There is lots of background that I feel as if I totally understand and can even offer an opinion. At one point the article comes to the question of a private sanctuary and rightly the zoo keeper opines that sanctuaries are usually run by well meaning people who love elephants but that they do not have a secure funding source like the zoo and they are not certified. Leaving Time is a lovely book, I am not sure what it is like to read but the audible book is read by Rebecca Lowman who does a wonderful job. It should be on everyone's summer list of books to listen to. It is a conundrum what to do for the Bronx Zoo. This single aging female has no family, she isn't one of the wise ones of the herd to be respected. She is isolated and has no skills of joining a herd or mothering. She is destined to live out her life alone. There is much to be learned from the elephants about family and aging and love. I think I'll listen to the book again.

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