when it’s really needed
September 17, 2009 (Thursday)
I’ve been drawing lessons from wild animal life in this blog for a few days, and today I’ll try to do it one more time.
Yesterday I walked in Memorial Park in Rockport, and, as is always the case when walking there, I saw quite a few squirrels. Most of them were scurrying here and there, picking up bits of food of various kinds. They seemed happy.
Then I came to a spot where someone had put out some corn for the furry critters. The squirrels were helping themselves to the free meal. Since this area has been in a severe drought, I’m sure someone decided to put out some food for the squirrels because their normal food is probably in short supply due to the dry conditions.
Some people want to help out when the normal food supply dwindles, but others feed wild animals no matter what the conditions are; most of them do it for their own pleasure because they like to get a close look a the animals when they are eating. This is generally not a good idea.
People who feed wild animals discover that the animals become dependent upon them and less able to care for their own needs. Sometimes they find out that the wild animal can be aggressive when deprived of the expected help. Some people have been harmed or killed by such animals.
Wild animals fare much better if they can fend for themselves.
Come to think of it, we all do better when we can take care of ourselves. If we are among those who can do that, we should be thanking the Lord for the privilege, because it probably means we are in reasonably good health, we’ve had no tragedies to befall us, and we are still able to be up and around, doing constructive things. Not everyone can say that. Some folks are in difficult circumstances today, and they need help. If we can help them, we are glad we can. If we can help them to help themselves, we are especially happy about that. Who knows? One of these days we may need help from them.