Giraffes and Lionesses

Botswana, Okavango Delta – crossing a small plain – same 3 guys, same Jack Russell, and me. In the distance, about 1 o'clock was a young giraffe in a herd of about 4. The back of the giraffe was in the process of healing from claw marks. It looked like he had had a narrow escape from a large cat in his recent past.

I was following the 3 guys, totally focused on that young giraffe, imagining healing energy coating all his wounds. Then I looked up and noticed that there were 3 lionesses – 2 of them at 4 o'clock and 1 at 9 o'clock. Yikes, we were in the middle of a hunting party – of lions. The 3 guys are acting like everything's normal, so I figure they haven't noticed – which ramped up my fear even more. I'm out here with bozos who don't notice what is starkly obvious to me. We're about to be dinner.

So I got as close to those guys as a shadow at high noon, and said, in a fairly calm voice, "Hey, did y'all
notice the lions? We're in the middle of a hunt!"
"Yeah, no problem."
"I beg your pardon?  Lions!"
"Don't worry. They don't see us as food."
"Yeah, but have they read the same books as you? And what about man-eaters?"
"Don't worry."

How do I stop worrying about something that I have little knowledge about, just enough to set my imagination on overkill, but not enough to competently assess the situation? or accurately guess the outcome? (Which is never predictable to begin with.)

We passed through safely, the guys seemingly relaxed, me being hypervigilant – the lions looked bored – I didn't trust them – they're wild.

The lesson remains. There is so much to learn in this world – about myself, about people with whom I associate, about the natural world, and about the interplay of it all.  Pretty fascinating!