Religious Education Update: May 10, 2009
Who’s a Mother?
This past Good Friday, two simultaneous events changed my life. A female feral cat who had roamed the neighborhood for the past couple of years abruptly disappeared, and I began hearing meowing from under the house. The first time I heard a “meow”, I thought I was just hearing things. But the meowing continued, and got louder whenever anyone entered either of our bathrooms.
When I crawled under the house to investigate, I saw nothing but the usual dirt and spider webs. I could hear meowing coming from an outside wall, but no sign of a cat. Puzzled, I lay on my back on the dirt, until I spotted a tiny paw in a hole in the subflooring where a pipe connects to the bottom of the shower area. I waited for the paw to reappear, then extracted a kitten from the flooring. Soon, I had nabbed four kittens.
I suddenly was “mom” to these four tiny kittens, who appeared to be about five weeks old. They accepted me readily, despite their feral upbringing. When I held them in my lap, they would climb up into my hair, searching for somewhere to nurse. They didn’t understand yet how to lap milk from a dish, but meowed insistently that they wanted milk, now. They bonded to me, despite my total lack of resemblance to their real mom.
Becoming a mom, in a broader sense of the word, can occur after a pregnancy, or it can occur when some creature needs your attention and care. It can occur by choice, or by happenstance, as with my little kittens. These happy events may provide teaching moments in nurturing, a skill that requires that the needs of other living things supercedes one’s own issues, The family pet may need food or attention; the garden may need watering. A child who learns to care by providing for another, has mastered the first lesson in good parenting.
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
This past Good Friday, two simultaneous events changed my life. A female feral cat who had roamed the neighborhood for the past couple of years abruptly disappeared, and I began hearing meowing from under the house. The first time I heard a “meow”, I thought I was just hearing things. But the meowing continued, and got louder whenever anyone entered either of our bathrooms.
When I crawled under the house to investigate, I saw nothing but the usual dirt and spider webs. I could hear meowing coming from an outside wall, but no sign of a cat. Puzzled, I lay on my back on the dirt, until I spotted a tiny paw in a hole in the subflooring where a pipe connects to the bottom of the shower area. I waited for the paw to reappear, then extracted a kitten from the flooring. Soon, I had nabbed four kittens.
I suddenly was “mom” to these four tiny kittens, who appeared to be about five weeks old. They accepted me readily, despite their feral upbringing. When I held them in my lap, they would climb up into my hair, searching for somewhere to nurse. They didn’t understand yet how to lap milk from a dish, but meowed insistently that they wanted milk, now. They bonded to me, despite my total lack of resemblance to their real mom.
Becoming a mom, in a broader sense of the word, can occur after a pregnancy, or it can occur when some creature needs your attention and care. It can occur by choice, or by happenstance, as with my little kittens. These happy events may provide teaching moments in nurturing, a skill that requires that the needs of other living things supercedes one’s own issues, The family pet may need food or attention; the garden may need watering. A child who learns to care by providing for another, has mastered the first lesson in good parenting.
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
posted by ddodd @ 2:09 PM
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