Caring for Something

When we care for something, we pay attention to it. When we don’t care for something, we can easily overlook it. If we care for something, it has the power to change us.

I saw a series of videos of parents with ninja-like reflexes, catching toddlers and kids who are on a collision course with a wipe out. One father was sleeping and, even while his eyes were closed, he reached out and caught his infant who was about to tumble off the couch. Even now, as a father, the slightest whimper from my kids in the night will wake me up, but I’ll sleep easily through most any other noise. 

I care for my children, and so I pay attention. I am tuned in, focused, alert to what is affecting those I love. I stop to celebrate small victories, anticipate minor disasters and spills, and think one step ahead. 

While caring for something, or someone, helps me pay attention to it, I’ve discovered that caring does something more in me. When I care for someone or something I also change. I discovered this when I started gardening and beekeeping. I cared for these little pollinators and worked to nurture the flowering and fruiting plants in my yard, but along the way I started to see something else. I paid attention to the weather, wondering if dark new clouds or changes in temperature will help or hurt my garden. I paid attention to other gardens and found myself concerned with the wellbeing of other trees and neglected bushes. I soon began to wonder about people and families in my neighourhood, as well. I was surprised, but I began to see them, too.

It’s a strange leap to go from caring for plants to the condition of my city and the healthy of the people who lived here. I wondered if there was a playground in my neighbourhood, I noticed a pathway that didn’t connect, and I was concerned if businesses were opening or closing in our community. Because I cared about the people around me, I started to notice and wonder what might help them thrive.

In this season of pandemics and physical distancing, I am noticing that more people are becoming care-givers. The creative ways that people are looking out for each other is more than just inspiring, its revealing the powerful force that care has in the lives of individuals and on our whole community. We are noticing, paying attention, and this is transforming us in profound ways.

We do not have to be experts or have all the answers to care for those around us, we just have to care and trust that our caring will open our eyes to see what we have, and what’s possible. I simply do not know, most of the time, what we should do next. I don’t think anybody does. But I do know that by caring, we pay attention, and that hints at the way forward. Right now in these confusing times, maybe caring for something, anything, is the best guiding light we have.