It had been three months since the last encounter between the lone male lion and the hyena. One mid afternoon in the open savannah, the same lion, still alone but now looking quite fully grown as an adult predator, was confronted once again by, this time, two hyenas - one male, one female. The lion almost reacted immediately with the intensity of the top predator about to face its traditional foes. Surprisingly, the two hyenas showed a delicate and almost subservient reverence, reminding the lion of the last hyena he met months before.
"We mean no offense", the male hyena said. "We've been looking for you for months. Our brother talked a lot about you". That immediately made the lion relax its typical demeanor as top predator of the African wilderness.
"Why is he not here with you?"
"That's why we've been looking for you for sometime now. He was killed just two weeks after you last saw him."
"Oh, no. What happened? You know he never did tell me his name".
"His name was Ba-Kitpo. He was our older brother".
"Oh, and you are?"
"Boon-su, the youngest, and this is my sister, Mali-wa. What do we call you?"
"Ha-Ri. You may call me Ha-Ri. So, tell me how Ba-Kitpo died?"
Boon-Su: He was killed by a hunter. He was shot.
Ha-Ri: Why?
Boon-Su: A hunter was stalking a great eland for hours. When he finally got close enough to fire his gun, Ba-Kitpo, not realizing there was a hunter stalking the prey animal, came from behind the Eland, which startled it. It jumped and ran. The hunter was so angry at Ba-Kitpo. Then he shot him. Ba-Kitpo was hit just below his right shoulder.
Ha-Ri: Where was the rest of your cackle? Where were you?
Boon-Su: We were miles away. Ba-Kitpo was by himself as he had done many times before, to hunt alone.
Ha-Ri: That is unusual for a hyena to do, right?
Boon-Su: It's a long story why he did what he did.
Ha-Ri: Tell me.
Boon-Su: Our mother was always on him for not being what a male hyena should be. Ba-Kitpo was always asking too many questions, and at one time even questioned why there are no male leaders of our cackle. He was always pushing our mother for answers to this and that question. But our mother grieved when Bakit-Po died.
Ha-Ri: I am really sorry too. I will miss him. But why have you been searching for me?
Boon-Su: Twice Ba-Kitpo had taken us, the whole cackle, to your leftovers. He talked about how you were different and the things he learned from you. Actually, our mother got so mad at him for going on his own and of all things, to be friendly with a lion. Then he told of the unthinkable.
Ha-Ri: What?
Boon-Su: He kept talking about a creator who created all the different animals, each kind made with a purpose. At one time mother denied him from eating with the rest of us. But Ba-Kitpo was hard-headed about his new beliefs.
Ha-Ri: You still haven't told me why you were looking for me.
Boon-Su: I'll have my sister explain that to you. She is also the eldest daughter so she will inherit my mother's position as leader of our cackle.
Mali-wa: Yes. I was the first to get to Ba-Kitpo after he was shot. He was still alive. He told me to look for you because he said you promised to explain the two questions he asked you before you parted ways the last time.
Boon-Su: Do you remember what you promised him?
Ha-Ri: Yes, but he is no longer with us, so why does it still matter?
Mali-wa: Our mother may not have liked Ba-Kitpo much but I know he was a good son and brother. I will be head of the cackle at some later time when I take over and I too would like to learn from you.
Ha-Ri: Yes, I remember what I promised him before we parted ways. We were going to talk again, I promised, and I was going to explain why dragonflies are so weird. Then I will also talk about humans. He asked me why the creator, I was telling him about, created humans. For what purpose?
Mali-wa: So, will you tell us?
Ha-Ri: Let's go over under that acacia tree there.
Mali-wa: Why did you treat Ba-Kitpo the way you did? You know he couldn't stop talking about you and the things you told him.
Ha-Ri: I did not intend to befriend a hyena either but your brother was not only persistent he had me believe that he was sincere about the questions he asked. I knew he was searching for answers and I believed in his sincerity. It made me wonder to myself why he and I crossed paths the way we did.
Boo-Su: Yes, he said the same thing.
Mali-wa: About the dragonfly, what is so weird about them? Our mother would get mad at Ba-Kitpo every time he'd stray from hyena talk and go on about why this, why that and often he'd wander off looking and watching other animals.
Ha-Ri: Let's first talk about what I thought Ba-Kitpo was really interested in. He, I think, wanted to know more about humans and their role in nature and in everything. By the way, what happened to the hunter?
Mali-wa: We heard his guide reported him to the game warden. His weapons were taken from him and we believe he left the country and he cannot come back to hunt anywhere here in Africa.
Ha-Ri: Good. I did explain to Ba-Kitpo that humans were created to have dominion over all of nature. We, all living things other than humans, have no malice against one another because we live according to the nature and purpose upon which we were created. Plants, grasses and fruit are there for prey animals to eat and live on and we are here to live on prey so that in the process the balance is kept. The balance is upset when there is too much prey as to render the green environment the inability to flourish. But overgrowth of vegetation is also bad if prey animals are completely removed. So the balance is maintained when there is just enough prey animals to keep vegetation from overgrowth and predators like us are there to make sure that such a balance is maintained.
For the most part humans are good for us and the environment but there were always those who chose to do the wrong thing. That is because they are allowed to have free will.
Mali-wa: But why did the hunter kill Ba-Kitpo?
Ha-Ri: They are also capable of anger. We do not have emotions as they do. But you know they are also known to have the opposite of anger. They are known to rescue and help injured animals, provide feed at bird feeders and are even shown to go out of their way to save the whales, injured birds, including predators like you and me. But sometimes they do senseless acts.
Mali-wa: Such as what the hunter did?
Ha-Ri: Yes, and they do senseless acts to one another. They fight and kill one another in countless numbers. Indeed, they do countless acts for many reasons. We only kill for what is necessary. They do sometimes just for the joy of it.
Boo-Su: I think that was what Ba-Kitpo really wanted to know. Why then did your creator create humans?
Ha-Ri: Like I said, for the most part they do good work. The story of the earth, a world we all share, is still going on. Whatever is the final outcome, our Creator has not made that known. At least, not yet. This brings us to the story of the dragon fly. I hope to make the connection with Ba-Kitpo's first question. Would you like to hear that now?
Mali-wa: Yes, please.
Ha-Ri: Dragonflies are very unique insects. Their mothers lay several eggs near still water on a stalk of a water plant or twig. The eggs hatch and immediately live under water as a larva or nymph. As a larva the dragonfly lives underwater and breathes like a fish. Immediately they become predators, eating underwater bugs, worms, even tadpoles. They can live that kind of life for months or even years, some as long as seven years. Then one day, they rise from under the water and cling to whatever surface they can climb. Unlike butterflies or moths they skip being a pupa from a larva like caterpillars do. They will immediately develop the ability to start breathing air. Then they shed their skin more than once until they are able to sprout wings. Slowly gaining strength, they will then fly as marauding predators going after flies and mosquitoes. And they are very successful predators.
Mali-wa: That is why Ba-Kitpo thought they were weird.
Ha-Ri: Not only that but imagine this. What do you think the other creatures underwater think about where the larva predator goes after leaving the water. You see, every water creature's life is limited to their environment. They have no idea what happens above their world. They had to wonder what happened to the larva dragonfly.
Mali-wa: Could they believe the larva died and went somewhere else?
Ha-Ri: That is probably what Ba-Kitpo thought too, don't you think? You see, I've always wondered whether I underestimated his intelligence.
Mali-wa: That is why I miss him so much. Now, I have a question. What do you think if I say that Ba-Kitpo is now a different creature after his death? Is that a dumb question?
Ha-Ri: No, it is not a dumb question. And I think you are even much smarter than I thought. You deserve to head your cackle when the time comes. Yes, it is possible Ba-Kitpo is transformed into something else. Humans had believed that for a very long time. They believe in the continuing existence. As a different entity, of course.
Mali-wa: I am sure if Ba-Kitpo were here with us he would have asked the question: If your creator allowed for butterflies and dragonflies to go from one form to the other, why couldn't he have done that with humans?
Ha-Ri: Well, there are places like India and some parts in the lower Himalayas and Asia who believe in humans living different lives in succession at different times, often one after another at different places at a time. In India, some revere animals because they could be some of their ancestors or soon to be future relatives.
Mali-wa: Is that what you meant by the connection between Ba-Kitpo's two questions about humans and dragonflies?
Ha-Ri: Yes. Always look between the lines. There is a message there somewhere, if you look hard enough. You will after all become a great leader of your cackle. Maybe someday we will see each other again.
Boon-Su: We would like that. Thank you.
Mali-wa: Goodbye, for now. Thank you so much.
They parted ways like Ha-Ri and Ba-Kitpo did before.
Yes, indeed I too would like for the reader to read between the lines. Is it too incomprehensible to think or wonder that perhaps there has to be more than just the one lifetime, the one each of us have now, because perhaps there is more to just a lifetime of twenty, seventy years for many, perhaps ninety and more for a few, in a world that so far has been around for 13.8 billion years now and perhaps many more billion years into the future?
We cannot know. But that is like for fishes to wonder what happened to one of them that was plucked from their world by something supernatural or invisible in an instant. But that is easily explained by the hook, line and bait. What is hard to explain is the kind of metamorphosis that butterflies go through. They exist in two worlds. One, the caterpillar, dines on green leaves, while the other develop the ability to fly and dine on nectar. Then on the other hand, the dragonfly does an incomplete metamorphosis by skipping the pupal stage. Instead they go straight from a larva living and breathing under water, sometimes for many years, eating different prey, then leave the water world, learn to breathe air, develop wings and fly.
The answers to so many of Ba-Kitpo's questions we cannot possibly know or even understand why, yet we must wonder whether one life is indeed all there is.
This is where I urge the reader to read between the lines.
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