The Hunter and the Hunted: A Prayer for Survival

 

In the vast expanse of the wild, where the laws of nature reign supreme, a lion moves through the tall grass with measured intent, its gaze fixed on a deer grazing in the distance. The lion is hungry, its body lean from days without a successful hunt. In the den it has left behind, its cubs wait in restless hunger, their tiny stomachs empty and their future uncertain. The deer, graceful and ever watchful, senses danger before it sees it. It does not flee for itself alone, but for the fragile lives that depend on its survival, its fawns hidden in a secluded place, unaware of the peril that looms.

The lion prays for the strength and speed to catch its prey, for a meal that will sustain it and its offspring. The deer prays for another day, for the chance to return to its young, to nurture them until they can fend for themselves. Yet in a world where one must perish for another to endure, whose prayer should be granted?

Nature is indifferent to such questions, for it does not concern itself with justice but with balance. If every deer were to escape, lions would waste away, leaving their cubs to succumb to hunger and weakness. If every hunt were to end in success, the forests and plains would soon be emptied, and the very creatures that depend on the hunt would find themselves with nothing left to pursue. The cycle of life demands both loss and survival, neither victory nor defeat existing in permanence, only the continuation of existence in its ceaseless rhythm.

Among humankind, this struggle is mirrored in less visible but equally relentless ways. An employee seeks a promotion while another prays not to be replaced. A business owner hopes for prosperity while a competitor dreads being outmatched, farmer prays for rain, while a traveler hopes for sunshine, a writer wishes for their words to be seen while another hopes their voice is not drowned out. Each prayer is earnest, each desire valid, yet the fulfillment of one often means the disappointment of another.

If the universe were to favor one over the other, would it create fairness or merely a new form of imbalance? If every wish were granted, would the world still function as it should?

The lion does not hunt from cruelty, nor does the deer flee from selfishness. Each follows the call of its nature, driven by the same force that compels all living beings to persist. Some days belong to those who chase, while others favor those who escape. The world does not pause to consider who is more deserving, nor does it grant lasting triumph to any. What remains is the will to continue, the strength to endure whether one is in pursuit or in flight, in ascent or in retreat. For in the grand, unbroken rhythm of existence, survival is not a matter of fairness but of perseverance