Can a 17 feet, bone crushing, dagger-toothed lizard learn to roll over, give a hand shake, and come when his name is called? An alligator is a brutish animals that lives by instinct alone, right?
Chito saw an alligator starving and dying from a gun wound while fishing and took it home to care it back to life. While nursing the alligator, Chito petted and talked to the alligator, even named him. He tenderly called him “Pocho,” meaning muscles, while feeding the lizard back to its full one ton weight. When Pocho was brought back to the wild, it did not slither away into the murky river. It stayed where it was placed, looking back at Chito. Chito brought Pocho back to the lake next to his home, despite his wife’s displeasure which is understandable because who ever heard of keeping an alligator pet?
Every morning, Chito waddled into the lake and called “Pocho” and Pocho would emerge from the murky lake and swim to Chito for a kiss. No wagging of tails but when you look at the incredible pics of the two together, the alligator’s smirk looks like a friendly smile.
One time, Chito was bedridden for days and couldn’t care for Pocho. After a long recovery, he went out to see Pocho. His friends dissuaded him convinced that the alligator probably forgot Chito by now and would smell Chito as meat. But Chito dived into the lake and called out “Pocho.” The alligator’s eye emerged from lake, swamp up to Chito, then nuzzled against Chito’s lip. That was when Chito knew that they had a bond and that Pocho missed him.
A human voice lifts up an animal to be more human-like.
The divine voice lifts us up to be more god-like.
Lord, thank you for coming and calling my name. Your voice lifts me out of the depths of murky waters.