Other Living Things

Early in the morning, when all our summer guests departed for the airport and the rest of the family were still in bed, I was doing what I do everyday, browsing the web. A story of miracle caught my attention like several others did in the past month or so. This one was about a one-in-a-million encounter between a man and a butterfly. The little creature of wonder landed on the shoulder of this guy, the author of this article over his lunch break in downtown Washington DC. After taking a snapshot and lunch together, the butterfly followed him on a cab ride to his suburb home and managed to greet him with a pattern of time and gesture in the next 37 days.

This was one of several inspiring stories involving human beings and other living things that I heard recently. The other night, the husband and I watched before bed a moving story about how guide dogs are being trained in China for the blind. Another night, we saw a program that showcased how a monkey beat a man who can memorize the most at the shortest time in the world, in memorizing things, of course.

Earlier, I was so touched by a story of a lion, who was raised as a pet by two men in London. Then two years later, after he was sent back to the wildness in the Africa, he recognized and embraced his former owners when they went to visit him. And there was a tale about a dog who was encouraged and trained by his own to walk like humans with his hind legs, the only ones he has… …

I didn’t think much of animals before. The surge of these stories got me thinking, very highly of them.