Co-existing with our animal neighbors

Words and images by William Wayne Page –

In the deer’s belly is the earth and moon, neighbors like we are with animals

We share the earth but not the roads. We share the air but not the modes…of travel. Sharing intention to live we both share but not from the same point of reference. We imagine deer on reigns pulling Santa’s sled, we see them often crumpled, dead.

We bear a burden we humans. Our educated experiences make us want to be one with the Universe while we have to balance our conscious with grim reality. We hunt, we eat deer, we drive, we collide, we have animal pets, we feel guilt and loss, we know better and can do worse. Deer teach me that. They are furred incense and reminders that life is never guaranteed. We say prayers under our breaths for protection then accidently run over and kill deer. We become the grim reaper and have car dents and fur in the grill of our vehicles to prove it.

Hunters hunt for the game eating history of humanity and remind themselves of that edge of survival with sport and trophies. Those of us that eat chicken or just vegetables, creatures with no eyes as friends pit it, cry over our steering wheels after we accidently hit and kill deer. Human beings live with the burden of diverse meanings to life. It is difficult. If we could align with the stars maybe we could have peace on earth.

LIFE is a call to reason to survive. Conflicts around our planet show the true challenge. An arsenal for destruction corrupts our perceptions of other nations of human beings. The deer bring those splices of understanding each other to our own drive ways. They wide eye us in the center of our yards and neighborhoods. What do we then see?  Can we see the deer as Zen Masters of learning to make life comparable with desire? Can we see DEER as 4-legged sacrifices of altered Jesuses, sacrificing to bring more LOVE to our planet?

I did this painting to reason the strangeness of it all. You know what….it drove me to share this deerly.