Making a Difference

Overwhelmed today with issues such as depletion of our natural resources, global warming, a failing economy, and the sense of hopelessness that can follow, it’s so easy to succumb to negativity and the feeling that there is little one can do to make any kind of difference. I recently came across a little folk tale that had a huge impact on me, and decided to do my part by celebratrating the spirit of the people and place that I call home.

In the forest there lived a hummingbird, a rabbit, a deer and a bear. The forest was their home until the day the fire broke out. No one knew how it started but it swallowed up their nests and their homes. Quickly the creatures scurried away; the bear ran, the deer leapt, and the rabbit hopped. And the hummingbird flew out of danger’s way. The animals stopped to rest at the edge of the woods by a pond. Without hesitation the little hummingbird filled its beak with water and raced right back towards the fire. Back and forth, and back and forth it went, that little hummingbird, until it was so exhausted it fell to the ground. “What are you doing?” asked the bear. “What are you doing?” asked the deer and rabbit. The little hummingbird looked up at them and said:

“I’m doing what I can
With what I have
Where I am.”