Matter of Trust and You Saved No One From Rabies

Matter of Trust

My son and a friend of mine and I went to Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago yesterday. While there, we packed a lunch in a picnic basket. At one point we stepped just outside the zoo to sit and dine. Almost an hour of our 4 hour visit at the zoo was spent with a very curious squirrel. He would come ever so close to us and then something like a dog would spook him and he would go up the tree and watch us.

He trusted us, particularly my friend, but not the rest of the world. He also did not trust quite enough to take the nut from her hand. Then, there came a moment that lasted for minutes. He gingerly approached and would inch closer and closer while she lay before him with the nut gently in her fingertips. Just when it looked like the moment would happen, a dad sent his son, wielding a stick, to run about and see our wild friend.

The squirrel, wisely, ran up the tree. The man looked at us and commented that he saved her from rabies.

Frankly, the bigger threat is human kind.

Regardless, she trusted the squirrel and he trusted enough to take the natural nut offerings, but they had to be left at his space and his comfort level to receive on his terms. She respected that and never violated his space, merely invited him to hers and accepted the relationship at his level.

People are often like the squirrel. We know there are dangers and we may have had experiences that make us question unconditional kindness. We all need to be respected at that level and when we encounter new people in our lives, we cannot coerce or force trust and we have to accept trust at their level. To do anything else is a violation and makes us as dangerous as the dog or the stick wielding child. Even if our intentions are good, we must understand others in the same manner my friend understood our woodland friend.

It is a matter of trust.