This morning I heard the strangest bird call before I saw what happened next. Two crows were in pursuit of a hawk. As they closed the gap, they attacked the wing of the hawk. This went on for awhile with one crow dropping out and down the street I could see more fly into action.
I wondered what happened. Is this normal behavior? Did the hawk piss off a crow? Was the hawk ill? I was horrified by the act. I sent all of them a silent blessing.
Then I thought about how we are both the hawk and the crow, picking at ourselves. We verbally injure ourselves with words. And so we become mentally and emotionally sick thereby doing that to another human being.
I grew up Catholic and remember strongly the saying "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." And we do. We love ourselves so little that we in turn love others the same. We need more love, more compassion in this world. It has to start from within working its way out-after we have worked our way out of our own darkness, self-loathing.
It is only then can we love others and see that all beings suffer. That angry person is suffering. That person on forums hating and spewing vicious words is suffering. The quiet person not looking at you is suffering. The person with cutting words wrapped around wit is suffering. You know suffering. It is why you had trouble loving yourself.
Can you love yourself in order to love your neighbor properly? Perhaps today we can take that opportunity to be mindful of our own thoughts.
