As cliché as it may seem… Every day of our lives are like a page in a book. The contents of each page was influenced by the previous, and will influence the next page.
Right this moment, the page ends with me…
sitting on the steps of my house in Laos alone,
non-dairy hazelnut beverage in front of me,
three country dogs by my side,
my cat whining at me from within the house,
enjoying the first drops of rain in weeks,
Singapore radio playing via my phone App,
watching the frequent lightning in the sky,
wondering why crickets go silent when there’s lightning,
and now my cat’s calls are getting louder.
Guess I have to go now…
Die, die, die… They all keep dropping like flies… Big picture… Change is coming… They say. Meanwhile, I’ll just watch them die…
Alex Clare - Too Close (by AlexClareVEVO)
I’m not alone.
I represent the family environment I grew up in.
I represent the great people who inspired and trained me.
I represent the awesome friends who supported me.
I represent the experiences that helped shape me.
I am a package of all these things.
I’m never alone.
Define: Wildlife Conservation.
泰國情哥-黃明志 Thai Love Song by Namewee [ASIA MOST WANTED 亞洲通緝] 專輯 (by name wee)
It is easy to lose sight of the big picture when you are busy fussing over the finer details of the daily grind. That is a very dangerous thing because it causes you to forget the purpose of it all or why you began it in the first place. The frustration, tediousness and temptation to run away helps to hide that purpose.
It is because of this that I am going to start a new practice for myself. It’s a simple plan, but I hope it helps. What I am going to do is this…
Before the start of every task… I’m going to write down…
- The reason why I am doing it, and
- Why it is important.
Wish me luck!
I’ve been taking this bridge to cross the Nam Ngum for the past 4mth. Didn’t realise it was so pretty from here.
Reblogged from Breathe. (http://daphdaphne.blogspot.sg/)
woe on us
Instead of hating exploitation, we “hate waiting for buses”. We “hate the hot weather” more than we hate oppression.
Woe on our pitiful selves. We have become more concerned about arranging every little thing in our lives into neat rows and columns, than to act and live in compassion, demanding love, mercy and justice from ourselves and society.
Change is overdue.
May our generation become less yuppie, indie, or faddish. May we face reality. And grief. And rejoice. And find hope, and value Love more than self-preservation and comfort, so we can live lives larger than our carefully curated bubbles.
I can totally identify with this now that I’ve got a cat in Laos.
Cat-Friend vs Dog-Friend (by fatawesomefilms)
Klari is my hero. This inspirational lady is the co-founder of the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary in Orr, Minnesota, USA. When I arrived in Minnesota in the summer of 2011, Klari was there on her 17th (I think?) consecutive summer, and she isn’t even from the Midwest. When she finally arrived after her long drive from Florida, she greeted us volunteers so sincerely like we had been old friends. From the look on my friends’ faces, I could tell I wasn’t the only one taken aback by her hugs and kisses, literally.
As soon as she was at the sanctuary, it was like the bear guardian of Orr was back. She immediately went out to look at all the bears that were present. A scientific identification method was not needed for her because she could recognise each and every bear by face, colour, walking gait and scars that they had accumulated from previous years. Once she was satisfied with her identification, she was constantly peering out the window of the Cook Shack, awaiting more bears to return from hyperphagia. She prayed and worried over the bears that barely made it back last summer, hoping they weren’t hunted down or succumbed to any of the fights they got into with each other.
Klari and her husband had fought hard over the years to forge a delicate relationship with the Native Americans in the nearby reserve, as well as the bear hunters. The place first started out as a lumber camp that quickly resembled a junk yard due to tourists who came to watch and feed the bears. Klari saw potential in the place despite all that, and today, it is a beautiful sanctuary with an excellent viewing deck and education program for young and old.
I most enjoyed my bear feeding shifts with Klari during the sanctuary’s opening hours. Every evening, there was something new that I could learn from her. The bear vocalisations, facial expressions, group dynamics, territorial behaviour, scent-marking… Everything about the American Black Bear, I learnt it from her. Since the Asiatic Black Bear is the closest related species, I am grateful that I can apply the knowledge here in Laos as well.
You are not going to see a picture similar to the one above very often. A petite little lady standing a mere metre away from a full grown wild male American Black Bear towering over her… Klari is my symbol of strength. Her words are really encouraging and I think about them often for inspiration. I may have only interacted with her for 3 weeks, but she is definitely one of the few people that I feel I represent while I go about my work in Laos.
Her words of advice to me? “Stay safe and beware of the humans. They aren’t as easy to read as the bears.”
Nothing has changed for most of the animals’ lives since the signing of the MOU. All the meetings, all the fanfare, all the publicity… It makes no difference at all to most of the animals. We are always one step closer, but how many steps are needed? A grand total of one rescue has been made while the rest of the efforts have been put into improving a zoo. Is this conservation? Why am I fucking here?
