A pig in the ocean

For some reason I am obsessed with my poor little pig-sister swimming in the ocean (the photo comes from the news article on the pig - if you look under the photo you will find a link to a slideshow with more pix). The photo they use in the main article - the one here looking straight into the pig's face - almost looks like it has emotion and thought. With this image, it's easy to anthropomorphize and imbue the pig with human reactions, human feelings. Babe: Pig in the Ocean. But if you go to the slideshow you will find more photos which show the pig as she is - alien. Is it the geometry of the face? The spacing and relationship of the features that fools our brain into thinking - like human? Or is it the romanticism of the story? Is it the metaphor?

I love the metaphor of it all - the little shock and pinprick of humor at seeing such a crazy metaphor made real. I feel a gennuine kinship for that pig. I know how it feels to be cold and alone and not in a safe place. And tired. Very, very tired. You can't let your guard down, you can't stop paddling, or you'll go under. And the temptation to stop paddling and let gravity do it's work is tremendous. But the piglets want you back. You know that they're huddled under a banana leaf somewhere, waiting for you. So you keep paddling, snout up, and hoping that you're heading in the right direction, even though you're just swimming into deeper water.

I keep imagining different stories for how she got into the ocean:

Story 1 - Grabbed by a Wave

There she is, the poor little pig-sister, happily munching on some taro root, following this crazy smell onto the beach. All innocent and full of the pigginess of it all. The weather is a little rainy and gray. The ocean is large and angry. One minute pig-sister is on the beach and the next the ocean has reached up and pulled her into itself.

Story 2 - Chased into the Ocean

It all started with these boys, these human boys. Loud and hungry, they saw pig-sister wallowing in the mud. They wanted a nice pig dinner and chased after her with their rocks and their little guns. She ran for the safety of the river, but the current was too strong and she was swept out to sea.

Story 3 - A Pig Tries to End it All

What does a pig really have to live for? What joy is there in life? Is this really all there is - the dirt and the taro root and the loud boys chasing you, throwing rocks that sting and bite, running until you're tired and you're feet hurt and you don't know where you are? Better to turn to the cold, clammy arms of mother ocean.

Story 4 - What's on the Other Side?

The sea is immense! Look at it there (thinks pig-sister), just look at it! It goes on forever! How can there be so much water in this world? Is it really all just ocean from here? I wonder what's on the other side? She tells pig-brother of her wonder.

Pig-brother says: These questions are foolish and pointless. Who cares what's on the other side? The taro-root is here. The banana leaves are here. The pig-husbands and the pig-wives and the pig-lets are all here. Our life here is good.

Pig-sister pointedly replies: The loud boys with rocks and guns are also here.

Pig-brother responds: But we can always run. They only catch the slow and the old, and that will never be us.

Pig-sister says again: But what else is out there? Maybe there is something better out there. I think I will find out.