Page 20 - Dark Matter Women Witnessing

and vowed to work for peace. He was now visiting the hidden encampments of former

fighters, trying to convince them to lay down arms and come home. We worked together

from 2005-2009 in peacebuilding and community reconciliation. On the phone that day,

he sounded excited.

I was driving to Sarkonedu, where the ex-combatants were waiting. On the way going, I

saw a little boy netting a blue jay. I said, ‘Stop the car!’ and got out. The little boy said he

wanted the blue jay to cook for his soup. He told me that the people gather

grasshoppers and cockroaches and put them out to lure the birds. Then they throw nets

over them to catch and eat them. So I asked the boy, ‘How much for that blue jay?’ He

said, ‘250 Liberian dollars’ (about $4 US at the time). I bought the bird and told the little

boy to use the money to go buy a chicken. Then I released the bird. I cannot describe

the feeling in my heart when I freed that blue jay and watched him fly away! And you

know why I did it? It was because of that blue jay that ate from my hand at your house. It

was so sweet! I remembered the feeling of that blue jay sitting on my hand. A few weeks

later B called again: Today I took my plate of rice outside to sit and eat. I had forgotten

my glass of water, so I went in the house to get it. When I got back outside, there was a

flock of blue jays eating my rice. I have never before seen blue jays in Monrovia!

A bird in hand: What is it truly worth?

The keystone species4 that sustain entire ecosystems are under siege as never before:

beavers, whose wetland engineering protects endangered salmon; wolves whose

presence keeps rivers alive; sharks, who, as apex predators, keep the oceanic food

chain in balance; bees, whose pollination we depend on for food; and elephants,

especially elephants, with their huge range that benefits countless other species who

depend on their journey, that also protects the land itself. Every life prepares the way for

those that will follow, whether consciously or not. Are we humans a reverse keystone?

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“A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment
relative to its abundance...The role that a keystone species plays in its ecosystem is analogous to the role of

a keystone in an arch...which collapses without it. Similarly, an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if
a keystone species is removed, even though that species was a small part of the ecosystem by measures of
biomass or productivity.” Wikipedia

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