Our Manifest Destiny

Greetings, My Friends!

Yes, I count all of you who read this journal as my friends, with some exceptions which I will come to presently.

You know of the ongoing tragedy of Lupin Panda. You have shuddered with fear and disgust as the story of his disappearance unfolded before you and I.

You have been appalled at the outrageous demands made by his cubnappers. I must pause at this point to thank all those who have contributed to Lupin Panda's rescue fund. The offer of Greek currency was especially welcome.

You have been shaken to your very souls by the obscene photographs which I have received and, only after very careful thought, published in this journal. I make no apology for the horror you and your loved ones must have felt when you beheld them. There is such a thing as brutal reality. There is such a thing as naked evil. There is, my friends, such a thing as cruelty beyond belief.

We cannot spend all our lives in the dreamtime. WE MUST AWAKE!

I know that the revelation I am going to pass on to you will shock and alarm you. I make no apology for that either. Instead, let me ask you a question. What links us all?

The orca, roaming his northern seas?
The penguin, in his Antarctic home?
The jackdaw, cawing in his English skies?
The puffin, clustered on his Caledonian isle?
The zebra, tribal-strong under an African heaven of cerulean blue?
The Holstein cow, gravid with nourishment in a misty Hampshire meadow?
And the giant panda, serene in his grove of succulent bamboo?

I am sure that you have divined my meaning. We are, all of us, proud in our blazure of black and white. We all salute the Sacred Cross of Saint Piran. We are the smartest, the most self-assured, the most hard-working, the most beautiful of all the creatures on this earth.

And we know who our enemies are.

They are among us. They are everywhere we go. We know them, for they are not like us. They envy us, my friends. How can they look upon our glory and not be jealous of us?

They carry a hatred in their hearts. It is a canker that will not die. They are ever seeking ways to do us down.

And so they have reached into the soul of our monochrome community and taken from it our most precious jewel. Lupin Panda - my beloved Lupin.

Do I need to spell it out? Do I need to go any further? I think not. We all know our foe; who he is and where he lives. We can smell him.

Go forth, my friends! There is a battle to be fought; and a glorious victory to be won!