Blog #755: Don’t Walk Past Yoursel

Most people walk past them.
I couldn’t.

For 35+ years…

I’ve eaten rice, beans, and salads
because I love animals.

But there’s a little life my heart can’t ignore.

______

Snails.

I’ve written before about saving worms struggling across hot sidewalks.

I’ve also carried well over 1,000 snails to safety.

The first time I truly noticed them…

I was walking across France.

I came to a steep mountain trail where hundreds of snails were trying to cross.

Many never made it.

Many went unnoticed.

But I couldn’t keep walking.

Every step forward felt wrong.

I slipped off my backpack and started carrying them, one by one, to the other side of the trail.

______

And yes…

I knew how it looked.

Passing fellow walkers let me know what they thought… some silently, some not so silently.

I heard the whispers.

I heard the laughter.

I felt the embarrassment.

I knew people thought it was strange.

And honestly…

I understood.

But I also understood why I had to keep helping them cross.

Those little lives mattered.

And so did the heart that refused to walk past them.

So I kept picking them up.

One snail at a time.

______

Then something happened that I’ll never forget.

A couple of women stopped.

They started helping.

Then more people stopped.

And soon there was a small group of strangers on a mountain trail doing something none of us had planned.

Saving snails.

______

Looking back…

I was protecting more than those little lives.

I was protecting the part of myself that noticed.

And cared.

The part that refuses to become too busy, too distracted, or too afraid of looking foolish.

That mountain trail in France taught me something.

Sometimes your heart asks you to do something that other people don’t understand.

They may laugh.

They may question it.

They may think it is strange.

But when you ignore what matters to your heart long enough, you don’t just lose the moment.

You lose a piece of yourself.

The world doesn’t need another person living someone else’s life.

It needs one more person brave enough to listen when their own heart speaks.

S.

(Audio version)