A few days ago I came upon a fledgling barn swallow that had fallen from its nest. At first I thought it was dead but then I saw its chest rise and fall. Breath was still being given; there remained a chance it could live. It swallowed tiny drops of water from my fingertips and began to revive. It chirped and wiggled in my hand. Efforts to locate its nest were fruitless. And while our barn cat is friendly, I had no doubt that it would see this creature as a plaything.
Empathy kicks into high gear when you put another’s life before your own.
But my knowledge of this tiny bird’s needs is limited so I wanted its parents to find it. I made a bed of straw in a bucket. I tied the bucket as high as I could with the little bird inside.
When life is asking to live, it is the human thing to do to aid in some way. It calls to our compassion and to our dignity.
It has now been three days and the little fellow is still with us. Its voice is strong and its belly’s full. One day it will fly.
When we teach our children about power, if we do not also teach humility we are inviting disaster. If we give them a moral compass but do not teach them how to utilize it, we have failed. Too many children who are now adults were never taught to feel empathy. They are physically human, but internally corrupt.
George Floyd died at the hands of weak and corrupt men. When George moaned, “I can’t breathe”; they were not moved by compassion, only power.
It is time we stop giving power to those who are internally corrupt.
We can.
Do the human thing.
photo: we all have seeds of good and bad. choose which you will nourish…
let kindness win 