The word “rhinoceros” makes
me think of a large animal with a horn in the center of its forehead, but that
isn’t what we saw in Africa. The photo shows white rhinos at the Pilanesberg National
Park and, although the bump is there, the horn is missing.
That’s the one exception
to the Park’s mandate not to interfere with the natural order of things. The
rangers remove the horns to protect the rhinos from their only natural predator—man.
Although it’s normal to
think that a rhino’s horn is necessary to protect it from other wildlife, that
apparently isn’t the case. And, if removed correctly, the absence of a horn
doesn’t hurt the rhino. Unfortunately, poachers don’t care if they kill a rhino
in the process of harvesting its horn. But if they know they won’t find horns
on the rhinos in the Park, they won’t bother them. So it is actually the absence
of a horn that protects the rhinos most.
As writers, we often have
favorite phrases or passages that we believe are integral to the story. We
might think a sentence or paragraph or chapter is our best art or that the
story won’t work without it. But that might be akin to putting a rhino at risk
by leaving it with its horn. Sometimes the section we can’t let go of is actually
dragging down the story rather than helping it. Those favorite parts may need
to be judged more harshly than the ones we don’t love as much because sometimes
what looks like a help is actually a hinderance.
So cut off the horn if it
hurts your story.
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