Dust

Dust from a passing car turns pedestrians into silhouettes in the lane by our house

 

We live off a dirt road here in Nairobi. It’s part of a small network of dirt lanes that make up our immediate neighborhood. When it rains, they become quite muddy, and the thick, red dirt sticks to our shoes, our car, and our dog.

When it’s dry, it becomes very dusty, particularly if a car drives by. Though the lanes are dotted with speed bumps (there are three schools in our micro-neighborhood), cars still tend to pass more quickly than they should – kicking up quite a bit of dust. It gets everywhere, in your eyes and lungs and teeth. And it sticks to all the surfaces of your skin and clothing.

This got me thinking about dust.

Looking up the definition in the (Webster’s) dictionary, it was interesting to see all the different usages of the word dust. There are the predictable definitions of  “fine, dry particles of matter” or “a cloud of fine, dry particles.” This certainly describes the stuff we see regularly. But looking further there are other definitions, many of them negative: “a debased or despised condition; something of no worth; rubbish; or agitation, as in 'waiting for the dust to settle'."  You can leave someone “in the dust” if you have a competitive streak. And you can say “dust” for “see you later” (not that I ever have, perhaps I’ll give it a try). Dust can be a verb with opposite meanings: to dust as in removing dust with a feather duster, or to dust as in adding a fine layer of sugar or flour to a cake or pan. It can be an adjective, as in a dusting of snow. Or it can be slang for drugs.

As humans, we tend to do what we can to avoid and eliminate the effects of those fine dry particles of matter we call dust. We hate dust as a source of embarrassment, irritation, and electronic malfunction.

But a visit to the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage here in Nairobi is a fun reminder that not all animals despise dust as we do. On a dry day, you can see the baby elephants there give themselves dust baths with great gusto and glee. The dust helps ward off insects and keep them cool. It also gives them a reddish-brown color.

Baby elephants giving themselves a dust bath, David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, Nairobi

Elephants embrace dust as a good thing. Having those long eyelashes helps.

For us, it not only has negative connotations but also serves as a reminder of the precariousness of life, and how small we are in the bigger scheme of things. Dust to dust, dust in the wind. These are part of our human condition.

Hippo prints in the dust, Lake Naivasha, Kenya

 Dust, by Frank Ocean

who's that talking in the library
who's that talking in my library
is that you
no i won't put you out
cuz what would this place be without my muse
nothing special
every book in here i wrote
some i'm not too proud of
some i wish i could burn
so many pages i wrote
wish i could revise them
but there's no erasing
and the best advice i got
was keep writing
and keep living
and keep loving
(oh lovin lovin lovin)
and when the ink dries
and the pages turn to dust
so will we
turn to dust
so will we
dust dust