Frost

Four lessons tonight, under what looks like a full moon.

I reflected on being a member of a species that can rest unconcerned about predators. I imagined that the only other creatures that might have this privilege are those at the top of the food chain. But then, doesn't a mountain lion have to beware of other mountain lions? Yes, just as we humans have other humans to fear.

Kneeling on the ground, I imagined a raccoon near me. I didn't want to stand (in this imaginary scenario), lest I frighten the raccoon. Yet what if it were rabid and posed a danger to me? Likewise, why do we crouch around others, hide our full strength and stature, when doing so may invite unpleasantness upon us?

Didn't want to pray tonight, so late already that I just wanted to get into bed. But a feeling came to me of my relationship with my body, with having birthed my son, and how sacred that is to me. How sacred that must be to all women, to their own degree, and how so many women in Africa and around the world have been raped by men, had that precious history of their bodies overwritten by violence and degredation. This reminded me that my selfish desire for sleeping sooner rather than later is not as important as it feels to me sometimes, relative to others' needs and the importance of me doing the work that I can do through prayer.

I prayed for gentle but firm guidance so that I may do what I can to help women, especially in southern Africa, where so many men are committing rapes that it is being referred to as an "epidemic." The question then came to me: "If I were in their shoes - if I were one of the women experiencing this cultural trauma, what would I want someone in my shoes to do?"