Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Deontology
I swear I would run out of ideas to write about if it weren’t for the prompts that live on my computer. This word means the study of the nature of duty and obligation. It comes on the heels of this week’s series of Richard Rohr meditations about our responsibility to care for Creation – every aspect of it! Maybe Richard Rohr gets Word Daily too. This week I have learned the following Hebrew words from the CAC meditations: chesed (loving kindness), tzedakah (generosity), and tikkun olam (mending the world).
Yesterday I got a perfect example for all these concepts. The most long-term friend I have, Tylka, sent me a text which prompted a phone call from me. We talked for 45 minutes on a variety of topics. Tylka and I go back to middle school in Brazil, some 60+ years ago. Tylka and Cynthia now live in Albuquerque, having relocated from the madness of Washington, DC. They are kind and responsible people. One story that I heard was about a new endeavor that Cynthia is learning about and will soon be practicing. It sounds to me very much like a tikkun olam
practice.
They live near a bird sanctuary. During one of her visits there, Cynthia found out about a project that attracted her immediately and she is now following through to become a participant. Cynthia will soon be part of the hummingbird rescue enterprise. She will become a trained wildlife rehabilitator and work with injured hummingbirds. According to her mentors, when a hummingbird is injured it quite readily accepts help and is docile while receiving it. If you know anything about these tiny winged creatures, you know they are quite territorial and are known to dive bomb an intruder around the feeder. But at their most vulnerable, it is possible to form a bond. Depending on the bird’s condition it is sometimes necessary to feed them every 20 minutes and Cynthia has signed up for this duty.
This story has stayed with me all night, and into this morning. In the midst of the turmoil in our country and in this world, this willingness to provide loving kindness (chesed) to one of our co-creatures seems a beautiful gesture. Cynthia will hold hummingbirds of all ages in the palm of her hand. And, isn’t that what we want God to do for us? Isn’t that what scriptures tell us to do for one another? In Isaiah 49:16 God says, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…”. Scriptures in most spiritual traditions tell readers that we must treat others as we wish others to treat us.
I think about the blessing of knowing so many people who live this rule every day. I think about my friend, Lindsay, doing immigration work in the scarlet state of Florida. Her three person office is a place where immigrants come for help with re-settling their lives in an entirely new and strange environment. If Lindsay is your immigration attorney she will fight for your right to have a safe place in the world. I think about another friend of mine who lives very simply, but gives me any money left over at the end of the month – money to be used in any capacity to help one of our immigration clients. I think of my friend who put her life on hold in order to care for her ailing mother, and was able to keep her in her own home until she died.
So, when Cynthia holds an injured hummingbird in the palm of her hand, she is a living example of someone who cares for God’s creation. This is her Tikkun Olam (mending the world). Today I will look for an opportunity to practice the Golden Rule.