Co-existence

“I read the news today, Oh Boy!”  The words of the Beatles 1967 “A Day in the Life” song from the group’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band  album came to mind as yet more bad news emerged from Syria.  Although I have never been there I know Syria to be a country rich in history and world heritage sites.  Our eldest son backpacked through that country with his wife-to-be a few years ago, before the present troubles .  While staying with us over the Christmas break they expressed their sadness that the places they visited have been destroyed and the people they met have been cast into desperation by a man and his need to retain power at all costs.

Why can’t people learn to co-exist?  This may be a kind of Utopian dream for all of humanity, but by and large most of the people, most of the time seem to achieve a version of peaceful co-existence.  It may be that the saying “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely” just has to play out in some places.

The image above was taken on a miserable rainy day on the Kaikoura coast of New Zealand’s South Island, and is the nearest I can find among my photographs to demonstrate co-existence – in this instance, among species.