Coyote--the inventor of death

   
   "Coyote--the inventor of death"
   
   The Wolf Animal Totem is pretty basic and sublime:  Loyalty, friendship, and sometimes suspicious.  The Coyote's Totem represents much more.  And some American Indian Tribes consider him the inventor of death.
   I will not simply follow the oral traditions of such a creature sometimes viewed as vermin.  I will transcend, go beyond, outshine and all the rest--not that my views are actually more superior.
   The reason to me that the elusive and bizarre coyote invented death is simple--for us to learn wisdom.  Wisdom:  Knowing what is right; next, doing what is right.  As we age, of course we grow towards death.  But why?  And why do we have to age?  The young are foolish more than merely innocent--in my opinion.  They overly enjoy mercurial sexuality and monstrous mischief.  To stay young forever would totally bring chaos to an eternal state of stupid existence.  But in aging, we learn.  We learn that we can't have multiple sexual partners forever.  That we can't goof off and toilet paper the suburbs while tossing eggs at the mini-mansions in the suburban sprawl--or we will all be in trouble.  Neither can we use drugs over and over again without any medical merit.  Therefore, in aging and in approaching death we learn to be calm, controlled, and deny the aspects of carnal cravings.  Most of us do anyway.  I'm still a fool plenty of the time.
   So, death is the giver of wisdom.  A chance to change our mischievous ways and be the divine elders who instruct the youth on their idiocies.  
   While delivering newspapers in Nashville, I came across many scattering coyotes during the moonlit nights here and there--sleek, good-looking, and ornamented with bushy tails that keep and contain the negativity of disease and demons.  But upon seeing a gore-smeared, dead coyote on the suburban road, I had a magnanimous desire to get out of my car and inspect the lovely Barking Dog--Canis Latrans.  I looked deep into its death-filled eyes, sensing the mysterious remains of life still fully existing.  We should all adore the coyote, whether he is a trickster or not.