Facts don’t speak for themselves. They’re spoke by the folks that make ‘em up.

(Marjorie Lauren Zayphod-Beeblebroxx, “When Your Gut Talks to Ya,” Podex Press, 2022)

“Marjorie Lauren” is a made-up person (cap doff to Douglas Adams). Don’t take her seriously. Her figment came to mind when a New Mexican in the news said recently something like, “All I need to know is what my gut tells me.” Good buddy, check in with a piece of you that’s north of your intestines if you can find it. The gut’s a chute for you-know-what. Jazz god Louis Armstrong honored it with a plaque on his toilet that read: Leave It All Behind You.

A Spanish metaphor does more justice to the organ: hacer de tripas corazón. It means literally “to make heart from guts.” Maybe akin to Hemingway’s “grace under pressure,” it’s summoning toughness and nerve when you’re gripped by visceral dread. The Ukrainians are doing it as we speak.

Natalie Angier’s brisk account of the thrilling odyssey undertaken by three resolute bitches gives a comparable view of indomitable pluck against forbidding odds:

Three sisters braved lions, crocodiles, poachers, raging rivers and other dangers on a 1,300-mile transnational effort to forge a new dynasty.

(Natalie Angier, “The Incredible Journey of Three African Wild Dogs,” NYTimes, 6-20-22)

Take heart, sisters.

(c) 2022 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved