Morality

Community Between Species

Perhaps you’ve seen this video and perhaps you haven’t; I records the rescue of dolphins caught in a cross current by people on a beach in Brazil – people enjoying a summer’s day. The dolphins wound up beached and were unable to swim back into the sea. I’ve watched the video many time; I celebrated, I fell in love and I wept. It made me wonder what would have happened if there’d only been only one or two people there when the dolphins became stranded. Luckily in this case, enough people were available to respond and help another species. They did so, in my opinion, with great compassion and ability.

What does “community” mean to you? To me, this rescue is a great example of it – many levels of involvement amongst the participants, all serving different roles and all working together for the common good. There were those community members who sighted the problem the dolphins were having. Then others whose creatively figured out how to grab hold of their tails and help turn them around. Some of the onlookers helped by holding the belongings of those responding, and some people simply witnessed and encouraged the rest of the community. There was also one person who captured the amazing rescue on video. This person documented the event and shared it online so anyone anywhere on the globe with the means could see, know, celebrate, be in awe, and yes, wonder how they personally would have responded in that situation, had they been there themselves..

I am in awe of all those who were present. I could SEE the compassion and caring in every person, and it reminded me of the importance of cooperation – how everyone‘s individual response matters. There wasn’t just one role to be played, and each role was carried out perfectly, at least from my vantage point.

Community! It happens by arrangement, membership, discipline, or being willing to engage in your own way – right where you’re standing at any given moment.