My family and I live on a farm and raise animals. Cattle, dogs, chickens, goats, pigs…we’ve done it all. One thing that continually, in equal measures, appalls and fascinates me is the tendency for animals to attack the weak links in their herd.
If a dog gets injured or one of the other pups gets into a disagreement with his buddy, the whole pack will join in and maul him. They will literally kill their own pack-mate just because he’s sick or because he had a squabble with one of the other dogs. A pig will bite off his best friend’s tail. A chicken will peck the crap out of her own sister if her beak is a little bit wonky. For real. It’s so weird.
Another thing that never ceases to make my brain ache and my heart combust is the propensity for humans to do the same damn thing. We sense a weakness or see a mistake or a lapse in judgement – something any one of us could and probably have done – and we viciously attack.
We band together in interweb troll herds and rove along semi-anonymously with our torches and pitchforks; killing our own flock mates with our grisly words and dreadful judgement. It’s fantastically amazing how many perfect people there are lurking in the shadows of cyberspace.
I say if we’re going to behave like dogs and wage virtual war upon every infallible human out there, we might as well rip off our opposable thumbs now and start eating our meat raw.
Why must we knead salt into already unhealable wounds?
I have a whole pod of kids I spawned and I’m so, so thankful everyday that I’m only responsible for myself and them. I’m only in a position to be judge, jury and executioner for my own family. That’s it.
The choices other folks are making for their people – that’s their business. The things that happen in another family – none of my concern unless I can do something to help them. Sometimes, all I can do is pray.
Pray for strength, pray for healing, pray for protection, pray for redemption – for myself and the ones who are suffering around me.
For now, I’d like to keep my thumbs and grill my grass-fed steaks. I’m going to steer clear of rumors and sensationalism and media-induced frenzies. I’ll just sit in the quiet of the woods by my house and meditate.
I’ll ponder about what I’m doing; how I can be better, what I can do to serve the humans I’m surrounded by. The real, flesh and bone people passing me by – not the hypothetical-judgy-hologram-selfie-filter-taking-hall-monitors out to rid the world of injustice, one Facebook post at a time.
I’ll strive and struggle to teach and model depth of character for my children; empathy, love, forgiveness, patience, kindness, tolerance and acceptance. What’s being smart or pretty or wealthy or successful worth if you’re a straight up jerk and can’t feel the feelings?
How can we be better today?
