Sparrows, Hawks

Daily Meditation 869–7/17/2024

There is an expression that “The sparrow cannot understand the behavior of the hawk.”

The basic understanding of this phrase is that cowardly or “common” people don’t comprehend the behaviors of the brave or the courageous.

While I would never say most of us are “sparrows,” which is to say cowards — I genuinely believe all of us possess courage — there really are a great many of us who look upon the deeds of heros of all kinds and cannot imagine the “why” of their behaviors.

We hear about the man on the street who saw a home on fire, the mother screaming “My baby is still inside!” and how he ran inside without hesitation.
“Why would he do that?” “He should’ve waited for the firefighters.” “What a crazy man!” et cetera.

We hear about the woman who, upon seeing the rolled over car in the ditch at 3am, screeches to a halt, and — defying her own musculature — tears the disoriented, fully grown men from the car, resuscitating them while waiting on the ambulances.

Similar tales to these are relatively commonplace (which speaks volumes about the general good character of man!), and yet we so often consider how crazy these heroes are.

Here’s the rub: