18 • March 2015 • UPBEAT TIMES EMPATHY
WORDPLAY
of empathy, feeling with deep regard for another. I was attending a work-
shop in town, traveling with a man I’d been dating for a few weeks. We both enjoyed being in Nature. Randy was driv- ing, I was admiring acres upon acres of date palms on either side of the roadway.
“I sure SANTA ROSA, CA. ~ [em-
path-ee] Walking along a creek path in west Santa Rosa last summer, I spied a lively batch of pink clover. I quickly knelt down to pick a few blossoms to brew for tea. A solitary bee sounded out his presence, quite near my picking hand. Feeling for its situation, I allowed him some space, too. He moved away a bit, as if to grant me space in return.
The incident
reminded me of an experience I had many years ago in Palm Desert, a tale about the power
would love some dates,” said Randy. We both agreed that soft, plump, ripe dates would be delicious. We had no idea where we might procure any, especially being our fi rst trip to Palm Desert. We drove on. A few minutes further down the road, I saw what looked like an entrance to a date farm. Game to explore, Randy turned into the place, onto a well worn dirt road. Just ahead was an old barn-like structure. We parked and got out of the car: “Any- body home?!” we called out. No one answered. We walked around a bit, cautiously.
The place was defi nitely deserted, at least for now.
by Marcia Singer •
lovearts@att.net Weird Facts & Fun Trivia -6 “It feels
like an abandoned farm,” I ven- tured. Randy agreed.
shabby, worn down building were
crates,
loosely atop one another. They were fi lled with dates!
Around the other side of the several
stacked Sun-
dried, lovely, delicious dates. Unable to resist, I slipped my right hand in to take a sam- ple. OUCH! Something had bitten me! I jerked my hand back. Staring at the spot where my hand had just been, I saw swarms of red ants coming out from their hiding place below. Swarming all over and through the crate of pale brown morsels. I sighed an audible sigh. “Well, they were there before me,” I said. “They have as much a right to be there as we do,” sighed Randy, “maybe more.” As we spoke, still staring at the dates, longingly, but with full acceptance –empathy-- for the ants, a small miracle occurred: the ants –maybe a couple hun-
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dred of them --began to move away from the dates. Circling around the top of the crate, the dates appeared to be offered to us. Dare we stick our hands back in?
ing just one from the top. Then another and another.
I went fi rst, gingerly pick- Randy
joined me. The ants kept cir- cling around the top of the crate, leaving us alone, as we ate our fi ll.
My friend and I
were quite amazed, humbled and delighted to experience this ‘sharing’ of the treasured treats by a species seemingly so dif- ferent from us. Truly there was an Intelligence at work here, motivated by not just harmless- ness, but respect, and dare I say, love for one another. Trusting, sharing, caring, empathy is an innate Way of Things… End of tale.
I picked the rest
of my clover blossoms, thanked the bee for sharing them with me, and went home to brew my tea.~ Shining deLight~ Marcia
Dibble means to drink like a duck.
The average human will shed 40 pounds of skin in a lifetime.
A Virginia law requires all bathtubs to be kept inside the house.
A group of toads is called a knot.
More than 30% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
Cats have over 100 vocal sounds; dogs only have 10.
The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs. Joan Didion
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18 • March 2015 • UPBEAT TIMES
©Doyle 2015 Self-respect permeates every aspect of your life. ~Joe Clark
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