When a species is as old as the Rhino Family, you can believe We are flexible. We recall the values of the Olde or Traditional, and seek Revelation in the New and Different.
These adjustments are best achieved with a lot of Deep Breathing and Time. Time helps.
That’s today’s Rhino Tip. Take it or leave it.
Colorado is quite a state, established in 1876. All of the state is high, and higher, with much mountain and peak activity. Up you go, down you go. To the East, things flatten out a bit, but the Rocky Mountains are more plentiful in Colorado than anywhere else.
You may not be aware of this, but Rhinos are sensitive to mountainous terrain. If you want to go from A to B, in Colorado, you usually have to go to X, which is often a daunting climb, followed by an alarming descent. All beautiful scenery, but the A-to-X-to-B business is vastly more demanding than a straight shot would be. As the Crow flies, not so bad; as the Rhino hikes, Unforgettable.
What Colorado has a lot of is Nature, and much of it as Nature made it. Thank you, Coloradoans & Coloradans, one and all.
Today, in 1883, Mr. Erich Heckel was born in Germany. He helped to found a group called ‘The Bridge’ with three friends, all interested in Expressionism. Mr. Heckel himself had a long career including painting, woodcuts, lithographs and etchings. Much of his work was politically unacceptable, and was banned and destroyed.
There is something pleasingly cutting edge about his own work, a dark mysterious quality that Rhinos gravitate to. We like primitive stuff.
Today We salute Ms. Emily Bronte, famous for her 1847 novel, “Wuthering Heights”. It is a dark and twisted story of obsession and abuse on the barren moors of Yorkshire, England.
Rhinos find this story incomprehensible, but that is how We often respond to famous literature. Also, less-famous literature.
For those of you who have let their Old Norse get rusty, “Wuthering” refers to howling winds, not the weather report.
There’s only so much room on Earth, and Rhinos occupy only our fair share. Rhino Turfs. We mind our business, and note that most other critters do the same. Millenia’ worth of cooperation and adjustment.
How today’s overcrowding will play out is a Natural question, no living thing functions independently.
One thing is sure; Every species will have plenty of opportunity to Cope with these modifications, Naturally. We note that much of Coping is time sensitive.
Today We acknowledges New York becoming the 11th State in 1788. Much History and a lot of Vitality, plus a certain magnetic Charm for clever folk; Rhinos have always fit right in.
Washington Irving’s ‘Rip Van Winkle’, an 1819 folktale of a loafer sleeping through the Revolution, salutes the Old Men of the Mountains, the ghostly crew of Henry Hudson, long gone. They lure Rip to play nine pins in the forest and then slip him a mickey. Hence, the nap.
New York is so chock full of Event that picking a focus for celebration was just too exhausting for our Staff. Plus We like olde Dutch outfits.
Rhinos have always felt companioned in our daily dealings by Kindred Spirits. Different branches of the R Family have been often in sympathy with different critters. Over a course of fifty million years We’ve had multiple chums to select from.
This is primarily a spiritual bond, often long distance. In some cases an egret, in others a sea urchin, etc.
Pals can be an unpredictable crowd, at least that’s how Rhinos experience them.
Today, in 1867, the Netherlands Red Cross came into being, helping those in need and a good thing for One and All. Congratulations, says Your Inner Rhino. Also, Thank You.
A YIR news flash: the Band-Aid was invented in 1920 by Mr. Earle Dickson, an affiliate of Johnson & Johnson Corporation. Mr. Dickson’s wife was accident-prone, and the Band-Aid answered her frequent mini-emergencies.
YIR is not clear on how Arnulf III got the tag “Hapless”. Probably because he was unlucky. When his dad, Baldwin VI died in 1070, Arnulf became Earl of Flanders. He was acknowledged, but his uncle Robert, the Frisian, made a fuss, and Arnulf died in battle, in 1071.
It seems unkind to saddle the memory of a 16 year old youth with the sorry “title” Hapless, but History is not always kind.
Not only can History be unkind, but it’s often inaccurate. Rhinos know these things.
On July 15, 1888, Mount Bandai, in Fukushima Prefecture, exploded, the worst natural event in modern Japanese history.
Natural Disasters are impossible for any Rhino, or anyone else, to comprehend. The devastation is amazing and disorienting.
All We can assume is that Nature is following its course. Rhino permission plays no part in the equation.
Your Inner Rhino 