Gazelles

On Saturday, we bought a very cheap DVD. It was a boxset of three nature DVDs about life in the savannahs and deserts of Africa. Hardly Attenborough quality.

We watched one of the DVDs, which is about gazelles. There are all kinds of different kinds of Gazelle.

There are little fellas called Dik-diks who act as an early warning by making a loud noise in the face of danger, and then hiding in the long grass. There are the stately oryx with their beautiful markings and long straight pointy horns. There are the springbuck with their characteristic leap. The giraffe antelope with their extra long neck. Then there are those who are particularly prized by species of the big cats. Like the Thompson gazelle which is a favourite dinner of the leopard.

Then after all these beautiful animals, there is the gnu. The ungainly gnu. The gnu which looks like it has been cobbled together from all the off-cuts. The stupid gnu. The gnu which has only seconds after birth to learn to walk, otherwise it is left behind. The gnu which has no protection against preditors. The gnu which represents the great african 'walking larder'.

I'm sure there is a spiritual lesson there.