*
“What is the difference between an elephant and an alligator?” the old man asked me. It wasn’t a question, it was the way he taught. The way his ancestors have taught since the beginning of his tribe.
“One’s a mammal, one’s a reptile. One lives on land and visits water, one lives in water and visits land. One is a flesh-eater, the other a vegetarian. Neither have natural enemies.
“But both are hunted, yes?”
“Yes, I see. The elephant for their ivory, the alligator for their hides. They have the same enemy—man.”
“You do not see. I asked you the difference, not the similarity.”
“I told you many differences.”
“Yet you missed the essential one. The difference that separates them forever.”
“Is this a riddle?”
“Not a riddle, not a mystery. A truth you can learn… if you listen.”
“I’m listening.”
“The baby alligator comes out of the egg a perfectly formed predator. It will not grow, it will only get larger, do you see? It learns nothing. From the moment of its birth, it fights to survive. If it succeeds, if it reaches its full size, it hunts. At birth, it is six inches long. In adulthood, it increases in power, in skill. But no matter what its fate, it will always be what it was born to be.”
“I understand.”
“Do you? Your work is with children. To work with children, you must know the child. The baby elephant cannot survive on its own. It need nurturing, it need protection. Without love, it dies. Depending on how it is raised, the baby elephant grows to be a work animal, a circus performers, a peaceful beast content to live in harmony with the herd, its family. But some elephants grow up to be rogues, dangerous to man. Depending on how they are raised, that is the key. You see the difference now?”
“Yes”
“And so, ask yourself, are the children of men alligators, doomed to be what they will be from the moment of their birth… or are they elephants, fated to be nothing specific… and capable of anything?”
From “ANOTHER CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT” by Andrew Vachss
Children of the world. Future flowers, now seeds. Some hand-raised, nourished in the love-enriched ground. Others tossed carelessly on the coldest concrete, struggling beneath Darwin’s dispassionate sunlight. Each unique, snowflake-individualized. And all the same. Our race. The human race. One color—many shades. Treasures to some, toys to others. They will reach the stars and stalk the shadows. What children are, more than anything else, is this: another chance for our flawed species. Another chance to get it right.
“What is the difference between an elephant and an alligator?” the old man asked me. It wasn’t a question, it was the way he taught. The way his ancestors have taught since the beginning of his tribe.
“One’s a mammal, one’s a reptile. One lives on land and visits water, one lives in water and visits land. One is a flesh-eater, the other a vegetarian. Neither have natural enemies.
“But both are hunted, yes?”
“Yes, I see. The elephant for their ivory, the alligator for their hides. They have the same enemy—man.”
“You do not see. I asked you the difference, not the similarity.”
“I told you many differences.”
“Yet you missed the essential one. The difference that separates them forever.”
“Is this a riddle?”
“Not a riddle, not a mystery. A truth you can learn… if you listen.”
“I’m listening.”
“The baby alligator comes out of the egg a perfectly formed predator. It will not grow, it will only get larger, do you see? It learns nothing. From the moment of its birth, it fights to survive. If it succeeds, if it reaches its full size, it hunts. At birth, it is six inches long. In adulthood, it increases in power, in skill. But no matter what its fate, it will always be what it was born to be.”
“I understand.”
“Do you? Your work is with children. To work with children, you must know the child. The baby elephant cannot survive on its own. It need nurturing, it need protection. Without love, it dies. Depending on how it is raised, the baby elephant grows to be a work animal, a circus performers, a peaceful beast content to live in harmony with the herd, its family. But some elephants grow up to be rogues, dangerous to man. Depending on how they are raised, that is the key. You see the difference now?”
“Yes”
“And so, ask yourself, are the children of men alligators, doomed to be what they will be from the moment of their birth… or are they elephants, fated to be nothing specific… and capable of anything?”
From “ANOTHER CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT” by Andrew Vachss
Children of the world. Future flowers, now seeds. Some hand-raised, nourished in the love-enriched ground. Others tossed carelessly on the coldest concrete, struggling beneath Darwin’s dispassionate sunlight. Each unique, snowflake-individualized. And all the same. Our race. The human race. One color—many shades. Treasures to some, toys to others. They will reach the stars and stalk the shadows. What children are, more than anything else, is this: another chance for our flawed species. Another chance to get it right.