When Lions Roar, the Weak Tremble: The Power of the People to Fight Back

Too Old for This Sh*t: How to Take Your Life Back from an Ageist Society

Photo by jean wimmerlin on Unsplash

Dr. Carl Safina finds truth in the pride. So should we

Carl Safina is a magnificent writer. His lifetime commitment not only to conservation but also to educating all of us about the beauty and worthiness of the world around us is stunning, which is just one reason why The Safina Center is in my will. His books change lives, and his work has changed the world.

We wore very different hats during our explorations of the world. Safina is an ecologist, scientist, conservationist and seeker. I’m just a seeker. We have been in many of the same places from the Svalbard Islands to Ngorongoro Crater, where he found his inspiration and call to action.

Reading his work has allowed me to see and deeply value the world through better-educated eyes.

This past week he spoke up about saving the world we are losing to greed. I have his permission to share that New York Times op-ed piece print version, May 27th.

What Lions Taught Me About Political Will

ONE late afternoon long ago at the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, I was with a group of birders when we located a pride of sleeping lions. As evening approached, they yawned big-fanged yawns and slowly roused. About 10 in total, scarred veterans and prime young hunters.

It was time for them to hunt. But first they licked one another, pressed bodies and indulged in much face rubbing. They re-affirmed: “Yes, we are together. We remain as one.” Only then did they set off.

While the pride wasn’t successful that night, they eventually would be. In community action lies greater success.

Whether he writes about Nature’s love affair with beauty and play in Becoming Wild or breaks our hearts reporting about what we have done to the oceans we barely understand, Safina knows how to wrap gorgeous beauty into lessons about life. This, however, is a powerful call to action.

As a country we have allowed the worst to happen. As it continues to unfold before our horrified eyes, it’s easy to give up, put our collective heads down and hope for best.

Safina addresses that path:

But acquiescence is futile. Keeping one’s head down is stupid. As the historian Timothy Snyder noted in his book “On Tyranny,” appeasement is how people cede their power to would-be tyrants.

“Community comes before strategy”

Right now we are divided and easily manipulated, having ceded our individual and collective power to those who use our distraction, petty grievances and confusion to keep us off-balance.

But like the lions, we can reconnect and be reminded that above all, community is where we find power. That means like right here on Substack, in the town halls and meeting places which have until recently been far too empty, we need to collect, speak up, and see one another as part of a shared fight against the worst threat this country has ever faced: from within.

Yes, we disagree on many things. But tyranny, fascism, greed and hate are not American values. Whatever else may divide us otherwise is petty by comparison.

I invite you to read Safina’s piece in full, and share it broadly. It’s a rousing invitation to find the courage that is within all of us. We must take back the country with which we were entrusted some 248 years ago, that the Indigenous peoples inhabited many centuries before that.

We’ve broken that trust if we cede this precious land to the worst humanity has to offer.

Time to gather, Safina says, we are indeed one.

Let’s rediscover our pride.

Photo by Leonard von Bibra on Unsplash

With heartfelt thanks to Dr. Carl Safina for his permission to share his piece.

Thanks to all my readers and subscribers.

Safina’s latest book is here.