A parable...

;-) Yeah, I'm in a wordy mood today.

Once a clan of woods creatures were driven from their homes by hard times. Evoking a long-standing treaty, they came to dwell among their cousins the desert creatures.

The woodland and desert creatures had known of each other but not met for many seasons. There were frictions to be overcome, adjustments to be made on both sides. But over time they welcomed and embraced one another through the difficulties. The females of the woodland clan were creatures of winsome beauty, but not without a love of adventure. The males of the desert clan were creatures of ferocity and strength, but not without a sense of grace.

But such unions never come without loss. The chief of the woodland clan was the fiercest of his breed, and never had he refused a challenge, and never had he lost a battle. But he had grown old and complacent, and though he expected to be the master for all his life, it was not to be. He challenged the males of the desert clan for supremacy, but the older males refused to even honor his challenge. The young males, though not vying for leadership of their clan, threw him into the dust with contempt. He found himself outside the counsels of the clans, bitterly standing aloof from both. If he could no longer be chief, he chose to be nothing at all.

This is the way of the world. This is the way generations work. It is not personal, and it is not malicious. But it knows nothing of mercy, or of justice. We must accept it, for there is no escape. We need not love it, for it does not care what we think. It simply is the way.