|
Koko |
|
My children were inspired recently by the story of Koko the gorilla dealing with the death of her pet cat All Ball (who was hit by a car). Through the moving images of koko playing and grieving and healing, we all witnessed a deep truth about the life that we all share in -- that one can love deeply, lose the beloved, grieve the loss, and finallly, go on. And most importantly that one can love again -- and be happy, again. Many of us have to seek trained therapists to learn these facts and to learn how to employ them in our own lives. And yet here was Koko, showing us, and showing how much a part of our deep shared nature this process is. My children got to witness this. And they got to witness how feeling and compassionate another living creature, not of their own species, could be. It was a very moving experience, for all of us. Afterwards, I reflected on the fact that young children, like Koko, are without affectation or artifice in these matters. Intuitively, instinctively they value the experience of Love, of loving itself. When their grieving is done, they joyfully seek to enter into loving again. With much greater ease than do we adults (or older children who have been deeply wounded.)
|
