Life is Cruel

I'm watching a recording of the new Discovery Channel show, "Life". I really love shows like this. There are so many beautiful things in nature and in places far, far away that I will probably never see. These shows bring those scenes into my livingroom.

I took film studies all through High School. The hardest thing I ever did was film nature. All I wanted was a shot of a fish jumping out of the water, and a great blue heron flying over a pond. I saw it several times every day, but catching it on film was a totally different situation. I marvel that the things that these camera men are able to capture.

I just watched a Komodo Dragon hunt a water buffalo. The dragon bit the buffalo, and it took the poor thing 3 weeks before it decided to lie down and die. Then, it was ripped apart by several komodo dragons. I used to think that those things were cute! Now I see them as horrible monsters with big stinking teeth and slobber.

I wonder how it effected the camera guys who were filming the scene. They had to follow the poor, suffering water buffalo every day. It is their job to catch nature in the act, whether that is a snake egg hatching, or a water buffalo with a festering wound struggling to stay alive. They had to sit there, day after day, watching this creature try to live when it realy had no hope. They watched as it neared death and giant lizards came from all around to stalk it and wait for it's death.

I think it would be such and exciting job, but I don't think I could handle that.