Eating the Elephant

I love sub-Saharan Africa. With all of its harshness and all of its sharp edges there is something very basic and honest about it.

I first went to Zambia in 1988. I was there to set up a partnership program between the Michigan Humane Society and the Kitwe Humane Society at the request of John Hoyt who was President of HSUS and at that time the World Society for The Protection of Animals (WSPA).

Since then I have traveled back many times to Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Angola and Tanzania. Each experience has enriched my life and expanded my world view.

During one of those trips I was told a story by a friend of mine, Greg Henrichsen.

It seems that an African village had invested everything they had into growing a large vegetable garden to assure everyone in the village that there would be enough food to get everyone through the hard winter and drought that was approaching.

Literally days before  the harvest was to begin a rogue elephant stampeded into the village and the hunters, in order to save the lives of the people killed the elephant that fell upon the garden destroying the groups.

Everyone bemoaned the loss  of the precious food that was supposed to stave off starvation through the harsh upcoming winter. "What will do we do? " the villagers wailed. "How will we survive?"

The fear and anguish grew to a panic stage when the old witch doctor appeared on the scene and declared, "We shall eat the elephant."

The villagers were aghast. "How can one eat an elephant?" they asked. "It is overwhelming. It is huge it is beyond our ability to accept."

The old witch doctor nodded sagely and replied, "We shall eat the elephant, one bite at a time."

Life is tough particularly harsh at times. I know first hand. Aside from my own lifetime of controversy and living outside of the norm, recently my lovely and wonderful wife was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer and now she is fighting through treatment and we are praying for her recovery and long term survival.

Each day brings a new hurdle and a new challenge to accompany the numerous stresses everyday life brings as rote.  She has to face each day with the awareness she has a long way to go to have this behind her. Sometimes just thinking about what is ahead breaks her down and she is not sure if she can do it as it is so overwhelming.

Then we both think of the villagers and eating the elephant, one bite at a time.