elephants

I watched a video today that showed a baby elephant who fell in its habitat at the zoo, immediately its family came to the rescue, helping it up. But the one thing I found interesting was, not only did they help it up, they continued with it until it was out of danger. I sat and wondered, have I ever done this? Have I ever gone beyond ‘just helping someone up’, have I ever walked with them for a while until they were ‘back on their feet’, in more ways than just one?

I understand that these elephants were doing this to their family, but what if we went beyond this and applied it to others as well? Many believe we are all connected and are one big family anyway, what if we actually applied these principles to our entire family also? How many lives would be changed? If we acted like we cared about one another more than we do, would there be war? Caring for someone removes our attention from ourselves and shifts it to someone else for a while, changing our perception and helping us to feel compassion for something other than ourselves.

I watch that video over and over, amazed at how the elephants knew the baby was in trouble, how did they know? Maybe they saw it, the video doesn’t show whether they saw or heard it, but I would bet that they sensed the distress signal coming from the young elephant more than hearing or seeing it. Do we, as humans, sense the needs of others? If we do have this sense, how can we uncover the hidden potential of this?

What would happen if all of us went out and helped just one person? So if I went out tomorrow and helped one person, and that person helped one person, and so on down the line, then that one act of kindness just changed the world. Just like with every other aspect of life, one small change can make a big difference. Don’t look at that one tree you planted, or that one person you helped, or even that one pound you lost as anything less than what it is…success.

In nature, one small step sets the next step in motion, for example, planting one small tree can create shade and protection to the plant life around it, which in turn, helps the bugs and the ground. I do believe that we are all connected, and that us, the planet, and the animals have a symbiotic relationship that can be mutually beneficial. That little elephant will grow up and have its own babies, and those babies will have babies, but what if that elephant herd didn’t care about it? What would the outcome have been?

I just saw a beautiful post from a friend who has been having back issues, “Healing is a whole lot easier when you’re loved”, I’m sure that baby elephant is thinking the same thing.