The Way of Home - Ati Pema

PC- Ati Pema

The Way of Home

"A leopard never changes its spots."
- Anonymous

Far beyond the distant chains of ice, stone and snow in the land of the icey plateau lies my dwelling, enveloped by the stone and dust that gives me my livelihood. I have to hunt those devilishly quick prey that leaps away on cliffs and claws away on the ridges (Even when they have none!). 

Fearless they are so I too have to become such, though they are swift, they lack much awareness and are lost in their petty fights. I can creep up on them quickly, and with my colour, they rarely see me! But a lot has changed since my solitude; there are more mouths to feed than my own.

My hunting days are longer and more gruelling, and hunting itself has become more complicated than it once was. My prey left their grazing ground and now lives on the planes in numbers more prominent than I had ever seen. It would be good if those two-legged skin changers did not look over them. They, too, live in herds of hundreds in their own lands, where they carve the plateau to their liking. 

I would not be much concerned, but lately, the snow on the hill, which once shone white, has been painted grey with dust. I can no longer hide under my camouflage! 

I take my cubs wherever I go as now my own kind threatens them in these difficult times. 

What had changed in the time I grew? Where is the land I knew? The snow, the ice and those green pastures. What could be the cause? 

Yet there is no time to complain as even those two-legged beasts are now hunting us! Will my cubs ever see the world I saw? Will they never hear the silent breath they take as they go for their first hunt? I shan't throw away my hope. As times have gone and become such, it will change once more. 

Ati Pema

St. Thomas College

All Lives Have Equal Value -Tenzin Jambey

Inspired by reading the book at our Sunday School.

Shouldn't we treat all living beings equally? Don't you agree that animals, plants and insects deserve respect?

If you think that they should not, then tell me the reason for that. We, humans, are exploiting wildlife, hunting and poaching animals and trading their body and their body illegally for the sake of earthly things called "money". What harm have they done to us? For what reason are we hurting them? Shouldn't we care for the cow which gives us milk? Shouldn't we care and protect the forest that provides us with a source of living?

Plants, flowers, trees and grasses all have equal value in life. If we pluck or take them, they will die like us. We pluck their leaves, and they will get hurt like we get. If we love and care for them, they will grow like healthy human beings. 

We don't like plants and animals. And we feel like they shouldn't exist in this world. For example- Mosquitoes and weeds. Similarly, now place yourself in an animal or a plant like a goat and Sundari tree and ask yourself- 'Would you let a human live who is exploiting you for their means and for earning money? Ask this yourself twice, thrice and thousands of times. And you'll get the answer by yourself. Next time, before killing an insect or before harming a plant, you will think thrice.

At last, life is tough for everyone, whether rich or poor, animal or human. Sometimes we feel like becoming a bird or sometimes a butterfly. But they have their life challenges. 

If poor people think rich men live a luxurious life, he is wrong. It's the rich man's hard work day and night that the poor man didn't do, but we cannot blame the poor people for being poor. As I have told you before, life is tough for everyone. There can be many causes that led him to poverty.

Tenzin Jambey

Pestalozzi Children's Village, India.