The monsters are back, but only one of is bothered by them. For several nights and mornings lately, we have had herds of deer in the yard. Ruby was just a tiny pup when they invaded us last fall, and must not have noticed them, but she’s terrified of them now. If they are nearby when we take her out, she drags us back inside immediately. We don’t like scaring the deer off, since they don’t bother the garden in summer, so sometimes we wait for them to leave or else just stand on the deck until they decide to move on.
We all have our monsters, but when fear has me by the throat, I try to recall something that Sarah ban Breathnach wrote. “It’s not an adventure if there are no dragons.” If you are up for adventure, as most of us are, it helps to know ahead of time that we will meet some monsters so we can name them and face them down. Generally, they aren’t nearly as threatening as our imaginations make them, in fact they often go away on their own if we just stand still and wait.
That being said, we need to be careful that we aren’t calling something or someone a monster when it is not. There’s a lot of that going on in our world today, and sometimes we just shake our heads and say, “how sad,” but it’s all far away and what can we do about it anyway?
So, we move on, not realizing how lucky we are to live in a place with little diversity, so we needn’t get involved. But wait. Discrimination happens in many small ways. One of my kids has worn his hair long since high school and gotten plenty of uncomplimentary remarks for that. Another son recently remarked that ranching is still a man’s world. There’s some truth to that, although a lot of progress has been made. Many women ranchers still encounter occasional situations that require them to be assertive.
Last week, I initiated a conversation with a dear friend about an issue that threatens our rural way of life, knowing that she might not want to hear what I had to say because our political leanings are not aligned. I felt it necessary to present facts backed up by years of research, so my purpose was simply to educate, but it would have been easier to keep still. I wouldn’t, for all the world, want to jeopardize our friendship, but the risk was there. Fortunately, we were able to have a lengthy discussion that was enlightening for both parties. In other words, we gentled the monster without getting eaten alive.
I’m involved with a group of folks who search for ways to help tame the monsters of discrimination and violence that are on a rampage in our country. Most of us live in small towns or rural areas, and feel there’s little we can do that makes a difference. That would be wrong.
Shocked and heartbroken over the news of attacks on Asians happening in far-away places, two members of that group, without any knowledge of the other person’s decision, took flowers to local businesses in their town that are owned by Asian people, and said, “I’m so glad you are part of this community.”
We often speak of random acts of kindness, but how many of us knew that those small acts are dragon killers, and how many of us are willing to be dragon slayers?