I am lying in the sun this morning, watching my human rake poo. There is a lot of poo on a ranch: alpaca and llama (the exotics), pig, goat (ugh), dogs and cats (the domestics). As my human rakes the poo into a tidy pile, she inspects its color, shape and texture. At first I thought she was going overboard (which she often does), and realized that it’s through the poo she determines how we’re doing. Are we eating the right food, are we stressed? Then she scoops it up and carts it away. As I watch her, I remember how she used to be. She fought against the poo, and hated it when she got some on her boots. Then the smell…well, what can I say? Now, I notice she’s almost mindful in how she goes about her task. The best part is when she takes a break and gives one of us a scratch.
So, in musing about the nature of poo, I’m thinking that it’s an interesting metaphor: we eat to nourish and replenish our bodies. What and how we eat can be either wonderfully nutritious and delicious, or miserable and unsatisfying. Either way, the end result is, well, poo. It makes fabulous fertilizer.
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