Leopards are my Favourites

I once had the chance of a lifetime and could see my favourite wild felines from close by. On the farm Massekwa in South Africa’s subtropical province Limpopo. Staying in one of the farm’s tents I first heard the leopards’ deep cough like sounds during the night. The next day farmer Johan Holzhausen drove us to a large fenced in area and showed us his fosterlings. He was the mother and father of three leopards he had found as cubs in front of the farm gate. The true mother had been shot dead. The youngsters had grown up protected but were now trained to survive in the wilderness they had been born for.

Should I ever become a buddhist I would want to be reborn as a leopard. I cannot climb or purr. What I can do is to emulate the adorable leopard coat with some animal print and fake fur. My more minimalistic inclined friends are frowning on my predilection for animal print. Never mind. Sometimes good taste seems to me a bit like political correctness. Righteous but no fun.