A “break” for me, is not really a break (as in rest). It is just a break from AnimalCare work, but I’d be doing my “other work” which is giving public talks on living a spiritual life. (My other-other work is teaching calculus to engineering and actuarial science students.)
For two days, I have been giving talks to “little monks” – these are children aged 9 to 15 who have opted to become novice monks for one week to get a taste of the disciplined life that real monks have to go through.
The chief coordinator of the programme, a monk from the U.S., introduced me to the little novice monks. The Venerable said he knew about me after having read one of my books.
I was extremely touched today when I went for the second talk and the little monks had all read Indy Jones. One of them said he had read the book at least TEN times, and he loves it, and I know he was telling the truth, because he knew every character in the book and all the details.
What really tickled me was that before the start of my talk, another little monk put up his hand and said he had a question. So, I signalled for him to come forward. He walked up and whispered to me, “So, has Wolf come back?”
He was of course referring to Wolf, one of my cats who ran away from home shortly after Indy came to live with us. Trust little children to have a heart of gold. I was so touched…
Hands just kept shooting up during the entire 1 1/2 hour duration of the talk.
I had such a great time today, much more fun than giving a talk to adults!
Ah…nobody’s asleep, and that’s at 2.30pm too, after lunch!
Young minds so eager to learn…every teacher’s dream.
After the talk, the little monks had lots of ask about Indy, Bobby, Mac, etc. They also told me they loved Pawprints and would like to visit my cats and Bobby.
It is so heartening to know of young people who are interested in animals with a sincere heart. I always say our hope lies in the young. We must inculcate a loving heart in them, for animals.
Before I left, one little monk presented me with a lotus flower. How sweet…
Suki just had to check out the flower, of course!
Tomorrow, I will be giving another talk to another group of little monks at another temple.
Tomorrow, we will also be visiting Tigger and taking Devi’s cat with gum disease to our panel vet.
And tomorrow also, is Tiger’s 3rd acupuncture treatment.
Boy, do I need a REAL break!
