Location: Dreamtime, last night.
I was walking across a busy street in Boston with lots of other people, coming back from a laundromat (I actually used a laundromat for many years of my life) carrying a load of whites, all clean and packed neatly in a pillowcase.
I looked down to see a tiny, furry creature trying to cross the street with us, clearly in distress and about to be trampled by either human feet or the wheels of a car.
I knelt down and was shocked to see a baby koala bear. How did she get to Boston? Where was her mother? Why wasn’t anyone else stopping to help? So many questions raced through my mind all at once.
But here she was, desperately trying to get herself to safety.
What could I do? Would she bite me? Do Koala Bears even have sharp teeth? I had no idea.
I gently stroked her dirty, matted fur to let her know I was there to help. She stopped her crawling to look up at me with sad, confused eyes. My heart broke.
Why wasn’t anyone else stopping, or even acknowledging her? What could be more important than an innocent being in dire need of assistance?
I had no choice but to use my clean laundry as a home for her. As I was trying to gently guide her into my bag of whites, someone finally did stop. But not to help, to admonish me: ‘You’re going to get your clothes dirty! Just let ‘it’ be!’
Sadly, I coaxed her into the bag where she nestled in, and I hugged her to my chest. She was safe and we could figure It out together.
The crosswalk light was flashing to indicate we both were about to get run over by a car, so I hurried to the sidewalk.
I again looked at all the busy people, lost in their own world, not noticing/seeing/feeling into the pain of another, not knowing how easy it is to help and what a privilege it is, how healing service to another is.
As I felt Koala’s heart beat merging with my own, I awoke into the gift of this day, with a ferocious sadness for all that humanity is missing and the incredibly high cost that we all are paying for the tunnel vision.
Our planet, our only home, is literally on fire.
Pay close attention. Don’t look away just because your backyard is not yet burning. Their suffering is tied to our own. Until all are free, none are free. Our fates are intertwined whether we like it or not.
May all beings be at peace and may we all be instruments of that peace.
