Giraffidae
I.
Giraffidae’s name is referred to thusly because it is not until later in life that Giraffidaes journey away from their birth place to learn their name. This story is about one Giraffidae who searches for their name only to find it camouflaged, hidden so deeply that Giraffidae was too scared to reach out for it.
While all the animals on the savannah seek food, water and a safe place to sleep and to raise their young, Giraffidaes also seek to interpret their name. This is important because their name is what they contribute to their Giraffidae families. As some highly esteemed Giraffidaes have learned, of the many species living side by side on the Savannah — among them their arch enemy — the name is what sustains the Savannah as accessible and livable to all animals. Giraffidaes value this aspect in the highest of ways.
Being among the enemies is a scary thing and all animals want to avoid their enemies (because this is certainly true), but it is far more important to understand what lies beneath the enemy relationship and in what way the name contributes to sustained life on the great Savannah. For this is the only way arch enemies can amend their ways and sustain the enduring Savannah. And even the enemy of the arch enemy does not want to contribute to the snuffing away of a living creature for just any reason. Yes, there are only some reasons an enemy can be taken out.
Giraffidae come from a far corner of the Savannah in the southest part of South Africa where the woodland areas meet the savannah. This has been their home for centuries because of the safety the woodlands provide them. After all, no one can miss a Giraffidae in the open savannah.
Indeed on a day when Giraffidae was feeling confident and sociable, Giraffidae ventured beyond the limits of safety to find a mesmerizing display of different looking and different acting creatures doing very different things than Giaffidae does with their family, in the far corner of the Woodlands beyond the great savannah.
Giraffidae stood still and silent as they watched the scene before them. How wonderful would it be... among them, softly pondering both of their existences. But Giraffidae had a strong sense that they should turn back and seek the safety of the woodland home.
Every day for months and months, Giraffidae ventured out of the woodlands and onto the great Savannah. Visible and exposed. But for Giraffidae, every journey further onto the great Savannah brought more and more curiosity to them. More and more questions. And more visibility — as not only could other animal species see Giraffidae, Giraffidae felt a pull to be seen and to learn about all the ways animal species shared their lives on the great Savannah. Giraffadae wondered why this was because no Giraffidae wants to be seen by the arch enemy creatures — and how easy is it to be seen by them!
What Giraffadae didn’t know is that they had begun to search for their name. In so doing, Giraffidae began to experience chaos.
II.
Now, all Giraffadaes search for their name. But they do so in the safe woodland areas so they can be free of threats to contribute their greatest attention to this daunting task. Or so Giraffidae thought.
Giraffadae had heard stories of some Giraffidaes seeking and finding their names in places Giraffadaes would never seek. And Giraffidae knew that the farther the journey and the longer they sought, the more precise their contribution is to the maintenance of the savannah, and the creatures who live among it.
Giraffadae wasn’t certain if the name is a fixed name or one that changes as easily as the sand reacts to the winds, sun, or yearly rains. And Giraffidea didn’t know how to find it, or what it smelled or tasted like.
Could it be marked with sparkles or rubbed almost clean off a stone surface? Is it marked in the water like lily pads leaving traces of where it floated, having only ever lived on the surface of the water? Is it buried deep in a cave where darkness is the only thing visible?
Why hadn’t Giraffadae heard others talking about their journey to find their name? Why were there not safe areas for Giraffadae to travel in search of their name?
So curious and pulled was Giraffidae that they would risk being knocked over by a lion racing a cheetah. Because everyone knows that felines are dangerously myopic when they smell the glorious scents of their favorite foods.
So curious that Giraffidea would risk the discomfort the great Savannah provides when herds of elephants hurtled together as one. (Giraffidae couldn’t wait to share this experience with their family, after all, when else does the Earth percussively creek and crash causing rhythmic sounds and motion that made Giraffidae want to dance, that is, after the panic attack)?
It began to feel like years.
And more years.
And Giraffadae wondered if they weren’t cut out to be Giraffidae. If Girafadae could not learn their name, what would they do?
Giraffidae suffered for this. Giraffidae became sick with headaches and body aches. They begun to hang their neck lower and lower and lower…. So low Giraffidae saw parts of themselves they never saw before.
In this strange position, Giraffidae fell over, but not before seeing a shape on their belly they didn’t know was there. Giraffidae stretched their long neck as far as possible trying to make out the shape. But Giraffadae only fell underneath themselves and rolled like a hedgehog.
Giraffidae didn’t bother to get up. Instead Giraffidae remained there in a strange position, almost hypnotized (like chickens when they get stuck on their backs). It was sort of wonderful because it was new. Wonderfully new and horrible all together.
III.
Giraffidae listened to all the sounds of the Savannah… how the Earth spoke to the animals, how the water spoke to the winds, the stream to the rocks gently laying by the edge, and on and on and on.
Giraffidae began to notice a pattern, a long thread that reached from one end of the Savannah to the other end, magnetic, capturing sounds and rhythms, sensations, and images. Clearer and clearer the thread shown in the air above the Savannah Earth. So clear Giraffidae began to read it, and understand it.
“Giraffidae, you have within you a special memory and a special light. You will hold the memories of all whom communicate with you. You will hold their space when they are in pain. You will notice, and more often, that you will know your words, actions and being are important to all living particles on and in the Savannah. Creatures will seek comfort from you because the words you think and say come from deep inside your heart, a depth that reflects and flickers onto others. With your name, you will speak your truth. You will help them speak their truth. You won’t always know how to do that, but you will try anyway. And every time you try, your reflection will be seen by others who seek. And every time you are sought, you will experience a surge within yourself that will burst out the truths of life, of living, of almost knowing. You will rarely know the outcome. But you will learn that you won’t need it. You may never know if you truly provided what was sought. But you will become comfortable with the unknown.”
Just then, Giraffidae had a thought. But the thought was more than a thought. It sparked. What if the strange spot on Giraffidae’s belly was really the same spots Giraffidae is familiar with all over their body? Perhaps the underside is meant to be viewed from a different perspective!
Giraffadae spent the rest of the afternoon, days and weeks trying to get in that position to see their underbelly once again. At first Giraffadae felt sad that they couldn’t view it. Just then, Giraffidae saw another spark. Giraffadae began to notice a pattern that sparks appear when Giraffidae experienced a sense of knowing. They occur when an observation is meant to be understood and then made meaning of. So Giraffidae did that. Over and over. Not sure if they were accurate, or were doing anything right.
And then Giraffidae experienced yet another spark. This time Giraffadae paid even more attention to the spark, the source of the spark, where the spark led, how things changed after the spark. These observations led to yet another thought. And then Giraffidae experienced yet another spark.
For days and days, weeks and weeks, years and years. Giraffidae paid attention to the thoughts that led to sparks, observed the circumstances in which the thoughtSpark occurs and the feeling of the spark after spark fades. Giraffadie knew beyond any shadow of a doubt they had learned something important. Giraffidae continued to practice observing, listening, and communicating in varied ways to observe the changes in the spark and to further understand their meaning.
With Giraffidae’s attention on the sparks Giraffidae forgot about the quest to find their name.
In fact, what the name was or is ceased to matter any more.
This realization concerned Giraffidae so they sought guidance from a learned Giraffidae. But even this seemed like a riddle:
“When you find your name, it will first be an illusion…
Until you give up on searching for your name, but learn to accept that what you do, and how you do it is your name through and through.”
The End