somewhere under the sky

the world around me

A few minutes ago I glanced out the window and was profoundly disturbed by a what I saw. A robin was hopping around the grass, plunged her beak into the ground, and pulled up a worm. The worm flopped out of her mouth but she quickly picked it up back up and swallowed it. This all occurred in less than 10 seconds and I was shocked to witness the reality of the animal world and the quick death of the worm. That is not to say that the human world is nothing like the animal one, in fact part of what disturbs me is the possibility that they are in fact, quite similar. The worm was living and then he wasn't. It was so matter of fact, it caught me completely off guard. I had been engrossed in an essay analyzing artwork of the Spanish painter Goya and three feet from my chair the animal world performs its precept: eat or be eaten. The worm, of course, was helpless, which tells me that in nature, everything has its role; perhaps it is not so chaotic and mysterious as it seems. It is simply the way things are. When this transfers to the human world, however, it becomes deflated. Death is certainly inevitable, but doesn't it usually seem an injustice? Something about this unfairness makes me question whether it is simply the way things should be.

posted by leah v @ 1:05 PM