Hannibal

While I'm a cat person, I'm not overly fond of other animals. They're useful, yes, but still, they're not my favorite things. I enjoy going to the zoo as much as the next person, but I prefer going to a steakhouse or seafood restaurant for animal contact.

However, in 2007, I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival. This was a yearly tradition but this year was special. My wife-to-be and I rode an elephant. We paid our money and hopped on. The poor creature took a few slow laps around the little designated area with us on top.

I had never ridden an elephant. And while riding an elephant was on the big life to-do list, I never especially set out to do so. So ... I had my excuse. The ride was short and slow, yes, but it was an elephant, a powerful, mighty elephant. At this point I had ridden a horse (also, a slow, few laps around designated area affair) but this was different.

Horses have been used for a wide variety of uses by humans for a very long time. Elephants too. But oh what would have it been like to ride an elephant into battle? Trampling foes, shattering lines, and crushing hope. That wonderful beast could let me do such magnificent things. Hannibal crossed the Alps with 37 of these beasts. He had maybe 20 for the Battle of River Trebia and used them to crush the greatest military of the ancient world. His further victories against Rome, ironically and eventually, also caused the Roman Empire to rise up and conquer almost all of the then known world.

Power.

This moment made real for me the battles I've played in games and watched on TV and in movies. Of course, it wasn't entirely real. I wasn't in battle and wouldn't ever want to be personally, but that's why its escapism.

I do know one thing: my elephant won't be named Stampy.