Sarah, Indraloka Animal Sanctuary
September 2017
Selick’s darkness was the most profound sort— a darkness that emanates from desolation. From the time he was born in the dark barn, his world was filled with angst, fear, and worst of all, a lack of hope...
Once a little pig lived in a dark, sad barn. He was old and blind and had
lived his entire life in darkness. This darkness was much deeper than that
caused by lack of light in the barn, and much darker even than a blind old
pig might normally experience.
Selick’s darkness was the most profound sort— a darkness that emanates from
desolation. From the time he was born in the dark barn, his world was filled
with angst, fear, and worst of all, a lack of hope.
His mother loved him as much as she could, but she herself was caught in
the same helplessness and despair. The barn was filled with old cow poop,
broken glass, and other dirty, scary things. Selick, his mother, and the
many, many other pigs there had not a single clean, comfortable, safe spot
to sleep.
Sometimes the human brought food, but often she did not. Sometimes, the food
was really smelly and bad, like animals that had been hit by cars and left
on the side of the road for a few days. She had, once or twice, let the pigs
outside. Many of them made a break for it. Selick’s darkness was so deep
that he did not wonder where they went. It was so dark that he did not event
try to run.
When the woman did bring food, sometimes it was enough, and often it was
not. She did the same thing with water. Selick’s mother taught him he had to
be tough and mean to survive. She taught him to fight for his food, and it’s
a good thing she did, because not all of the pigs survived that dark, sad
place. But Selick, he survived.
One day, a humane police officer came in, bringing light and fresh air
with her. She had other humans and trailers, and the pigs were all happy to
leave that barn behind. All the pigs but Selick, that is. Selick’s darkness
was just too deep. He had no hope that wherever he was going would be any
better, and he certainly had no hope that humans might help him.
Selick and just a few of the other pigs were brought to a place called
Indraloka. Three of them were given a big pasture with different little
houses, and were told they could go in and out whenever they wanted. Selick
took the best house for himself and was ready to fight over it. He was
disappointed when Raymond and Waldo ignored him and went into the other
house.
The humans kept trying to lure him into complacency, but he knew better. He
would never trust them. The others were suckers. They were won over by fruit
and belly rubs, but Selick was going to do exactly as his mother taught him,
so long ago. He avoided humans at all costs. If they insisted on touching
him, he screamed and fought until they gave up.
Raymond and Waldo were annoying. Selick knew that this situation with plenty
of food couldn’t last forever, so he decided to make sure he’d survive again
when things went bad. He began picking fights with them daily. He needed to
prove to them he was in charge, so when he needed to fight for food, it
would be easier to win.
Years went by. Selick was sick of those stupid pigs. In fact, he never
wanted to see another pig again. His darkness was still deep and thick. He
decided he was not going to spend one more night in the same pasture as
those stupid, annoying pigs. So, late one night, he found his way out. After
wandering around for a while, he found Tom, Jake and Henny’s barn door. They
were some very mellow old turkeys whose company he did not completely hate.
He knocked and grunted, and the turkeys kindly invited him in. They had a
huge bowl of seed and grain right there in their house, and no one was even
eating it!
Selick gobbled it down and thought, “This is too easy! I didn’t even have to
fight for this!” The turkeys just cooed softly and went to sleep. Selick,
his belly full, and very relieved to have escaped the pigs, lay down and
slept the whole night through. The turkeys were so easy to hang out with,
and they had all this food and a pig-free home. They were nice to him,
Selick realized. The edges of the darkness he had held onto for so long
began to lift, and a tiny sliver of light came in. Selick knew he wanted to
stay with these birds.
The next day those awful, fakey-fake humans came and put him right back
in the pig pasture. Selick knew they couldn’t be trusted, and this proved
it. They were not going to tell him where to live, though. So, that night,
he broke out again and went straight to the turkey’s house.
Every day for about a week, the humans put him back in the pig pasture, and
he broke back out to go to the turkeys. The turkeys took to flying right
into the pig pasture while Selick was stuck there during the day. He
couldn’t believe it, they liked him, too! Finally one day, the short human
exclaimed, “You love these turkeys, Selick, don’t you? Would you rather live
with them?”
“These humans have got to be the slowest creatures who ever walked the
earth,” Selick grumbled to himself. “Yeah, ok, lady, you sure do understand
animals,” Selick said patronizingly, and the short human told him he could
stay with them from then on. A few more slivers of light came through.
Years went by, and Selick’s heart attacked him. It hurt and he was scared
and he thought he was going to die. He was shocked to realize he wasn’t
ready. He actually wanted to live. The short human started spending all her
time with him, covering him with blankets, giving him medicine he hated and
encouraging him to eat when he didn’t feel like it. Tom, Jake, and Henny
stayed, too. Selick slept heavily, and a lot. One day, he dreamed that
someone he didn’t hate was rubbing his belly. He woke groggily and slowly to
discover it was true, someone was rubbing his belly. It felt so good, he
went back to sleep.
But this time, the old, blind pig slept in the light. His darkness had
faded. He understood that the humans and the turkeys had saved his life. He
could not come up with any reason for them to do that except that they
cared. Maybe all humans weren’t entirely fakey-fake after all. Maybe some
were ok.
More years passed, and the more Selick trusted, the more humans he
attracted. This worked out very well, as he found he could persuade any
human to rub his belly and give him treats very easily. “You just have to
understand them,” he mused, “and then they are easy to communicate with.”
As more humans sought him out, Selick started realizing the humans had
feelings very similar to a pig’s. Lots of them are afraid to trust other
humans, and fight with them just the way Selick did with pigs. Lots of
humans lived in darkness because of a painful past that was long over,
refusing to let the light of a new day in because they thought it would hurt
more when the darkness came back. And just like he used to be, lots of
humans were certain that the darkness would always be back.
Selick was so much older and wiser now. That heart attack really helped him,
because it showed him how much he did like life. He started living
fully—exploring sanctuary grounds, making friends with lots of birds, goats,
and other animals, although he still did not like pigs. He began to count
certain humans as his friends, too.
They’d come to him, talking and sometime crying about their problems,
sometimes telling him their dreams, and sometimes just wanting to love and
be loved. He’d talk with them and smile at them, and their whole world got
brighter.
“How sweet these other animals are,” Selick would think, “and so delicate,
with so many problems. I’ll just help them when I can.”
For Selick, it was never enough just to escape his own darkness. Selick
wanted to shine light on the whole world. So he smiled.
You see, Selick had hope now. He had so much hope that it lit up his insides as bright as the sun. And when he smiled, that light of hope shone right out onto whoever was near, and stripped away their darkness for just a moment, so they’d feel warm and light, with hope restored.
And please read followup story: Selick and the Flying Pig!
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