The salmon lives a majority of its life in the sea, where the sea water nourishes it. This existence in the sea brings untold wealth of minerals and nutrients to the tissues , sinews and bones of the salmon.
Carrying all this goodness of the natures marine bounty inside it, the salmon does a weird thing.( Weird for us human beings perhaps, who are probably less of 'givers' and more of 'consumers')
.The salmon upon attaining sexual maturity, swims upriver, (miraculously)and spawns there.
This is euphemistically termed' salmon run, 'wherein salmon actually runs into death and destruction. We are given to believe that preservation of the self is perhaps the overwhelming goal of all living creatures.It spawns and perishes.Paradoxically, this annual unholy pilgrimage of the salmon brings about its end.It provides food to hungry grizzlies woken up from their hibernation, migrating birds on the lookout for natures bounty and of course, puts mouth watering piscine delicacies on many a platter for humans.
The saga of sacrifice doesnot end here. After having laid eggs (or spawned), the fish age rapidly and succumb to "death due to natural causes"(as spoken in medical parlance). It simply gives up living. Thousands of miles from,' home'(the sea), having reached the upper reaches of the river of its birth,it dies. In its end bringing to the fresh waters the nutritional goodness of the sea, which leaches into smaller lakes(nourishing bird populations) and surrounding land(nourishing giant trees like the aspen, cedar, birch ,oak, to name a few) and literally supports the entire riparian ecosystem.
Now, that is some giving. In addition to nourishing its own young, which was the original plan ostensibly.
I think we all have a great deal to learn from salmon,lessons of giving, of not giving up, of tenacity, of generosity and above all of the meaning of our existences(which we so futilely hold countless discussions on ).
Carrying all this goodness of the natures marine bounty inside it, the salmon does a weird thing.( Weird for us human beings perhaps, who are probably less of 'givers' and more of 'consumers')
.The salmon upon attaining sexual maturity, swims upriver, (miraculously)and spawns there.
This is euphemistically termed' salmon run, 'wherein salmon actually runs into death and destruction. We are given to believe that preservation of the self is perhaps the overwhelming goal of all living creatures.It spawns and perishes.Paradoxically, this annual unholy pilgrimage of the salmon brings about its end.It provides food to hungry grizzlies woken up from their hibernation, migrating birds on the lookout for natures bounty and of course, puts mouth watering piscine delicacies on many a platter for humans.
The saga of sacrifice doesnot end here. After having laid eggs (or spawned), the fish age rapidly and succumb to "death due to natural causes"(as spoken in medical parlance). It simply gives up living. Thousands of miles from,' home'(the sea), having reached the upper reaches of the river of its birth,it dies. In its end bringing to the fresh waters the nutritional goodness of the sea, which leaches into smaller lakes(nourishing bird populations) and surrounding land(nourishing giant trees like the aspen, cedar, birch ,oak, to name a few) and literally supports the entire riparian ecosystem.
Now, that is some giving. In addition to nourishing its own young, which was the original plan ostensibly.
I think we all have a great deal to learn from salmon,lessons of giving, of not giving up, of tenacity, of generosity and above all of the meaning of our existences(which we so futilely hold countless discussions on ).
the meaning............!ahem ......just existing a very cerebral and ????? human phenomena wonder if other creatures too face these pangs.........they commit suicide so must be trying to escape ...... something lessons ....like knights in white satin never........
ReplyDeletePlease complete your sentences. extremely incomprehensible.thanks for the comments anyways
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