Carrying snails across the gravel path
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:45 pm
When I take nature walks I often see snails that are about to, or on their way of, trying to cross the gravel path where I am walking. Since this path most often have people walking, running or biking there, it feels like these snails face a very big risk of (if not even being doomed to) getting smashed on their no doubt hard and draining struggle to cross this dry "desert" to the green grass on the other side. Almost every time I see a snail here, I get an impulse inside telling me that the right thing to do, would be to just stop and pick this snail up and carry it safely to the other side, in the direction it was going, which I quite often do.
No matter how many snails I help this way, I feel guilty for not helping every single snail that I see. Why should I be allowed to differentiate and judge this way based on my sheer laziness to decide not to take every single snail I see across? Which snail deserves to be saved if I can, and which does not? All of them deserves to get safely across. I can't explain it further but my inside tells me: "By helping them across, you help all of us across."
1) Is stopping and picking a snail up and carry it safely across the the gravel path to the other side to prevent it from getting smashed by other people, a skillful, neutral or unskillful act, and why?
2) Is this skillful because we know that the snail will be smashed and we can prevent this from happening by carrying it across?
3) Is it unskillful because we ...interrupt ... events unfolding... that is not our business (even if we would like to make it our business) ?
4) If this is skillful, does that mean that ideally we should stop and help EVERY snail across? How do I know where to draw the line? (I guess I should think of "the middle way" here and that helping a few is better than none)
5) What are your other thoughts if any on this?
No matter how many snails I help this way, I feel guilty for not helping every single snail that I see. Why should I be allowed to differentiate and judge this way based on my sheer laziness to decide not to take every single snail I see across? Which snail deserves to be saved if I can, and which does not? All of them deserves to get safely across. I can't explain it further but my inside tells me: "By helping them across, you help all of us across."
1) Is stopping and picking a snail up and carry it safely across the the gravel path to the other side to prevent it from getting smashed by other people, a skillful, neutral or unskillful act, and why?
2) Is this skillful because we know that the snail will be smashed and we can prevent this from happening by carrying it across?
3) Is it unskillful because we ...interrupt ... events unfolding... that is not our business (even if we would like to make it our business) ?
4) If this is skillful, does that mean that ideally we should stop and help EVERY snail across? How do I know where to draw the line? (I guess I should think of "the middle way" here and that helping a few is better than none)
5) What are your other thoughts if any on this?