Run
The final urgent moments of a salmon struggling up river to spawn
before dying seem to me to be a sort of noble act that goes beyond
mere survival of the species. Against so many odds, the smolts that
survive to make it to the ocean are compelled by instinct to return
to the place of their birth. Procreation is paramount and vital, death
but an incidental event after the more pressing task of reproduction,
of ensuring the next generation.
The words RUN embodies, for me, far more than the salmon run. It seems
to be a metaphor, representing so many species at risk from so many
hazards of life, the chief one being what havoc we, the greediest
of the species, are inflicting on the planet. Each day somewhere,
a species is lost, extinguished forever, usually because of human
priorities.
RUN reflects my concern for what we humans are doing to all future
life on earth. |