Learning about how to become an elephant is almost synonymous with learning how to rediscover what it means to be human. Understanding elephants and saving elephants is a lesson in humanity. So many traits that are innate in elephants are those that we humans strive to be and possess. The "Elephant Lessons" take what we learn about elephant minds, culture and lives and applies it to our own everyday living to cultivate elephant qualities that are within each of us. Today's Lesson focuses on the
Importance of Family.
Dame Daphne Sheldrick (photo shown above), the founder and director of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, has lived in Kenya and has been hand-rearing baby and orphaned elephants for over thirty years. She notes that they share many traits with humans, both emotionally and developmentally. Elephants have a very similar lifespan and can live to be seventy years old. Their developmental stages are similar, as well. As an example, a baby elephant reaches adulthood at about aged twenty. With this kind of longevity, bonding, love and friendship are extremely important.
One of the strongest similarities to our culture is the deep commitment elephant societies have to their families. They stay together, in natural circumstances, their entire lives. The male babies are loved, protected and taught by the entire female group, until they are old enough to join other males. Females stay together, from birth until death, and as a group, take up the rearing of all the babies. These extended families are vital to the teaching of the babies, as elephants have to learn, themselves, how to become elephants!! This enables the elephant culture to be maintained. The families are fiercely loyal, affectionate and protective of each other. They love, support, provide companionship, guide and trust each other. When a family member passes away they mourn and grieve together.They NEED each other to be happy and productive members of the society.
The lesson from the elephants is this: Family is necessary for survival, well-being and healthy development no matter what kind of being one is. We need the experience, knowledge and warmth of family. We need the traditions and continuity that family provides. We need to be with those that share our values and know our history. We need to stay together in order to be happy, well-adjusted and fully functioning members of OUR societies. They haven't changed but we have. In the fast pace of today's world, it takes the integrity of this special being to show us the way.
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