Johanna Shapiro, PhD
A woman is engaged in the simple task of preparing breakfast for herself and her husband. Each small action radiates deliberateness and appreciation—the placement of the silverware, the stirring, stepping out to place the seeds in the bird feeder. This is a woman secure in the routines of her life, grateful for the simplicity and beauty she finds in them. As well, she is eager to extend her benevolence beyond herself and her loved one to creatures that are vulnerable and frail. Surrounded by the wings of flying birds, she is filled with a sense of all that is holy.
In the midst of this sacred moment, she remembers the mother of a dying teenager and the devastating image of the child sitting up in her bed and crying out her fear and helplessness: What should I do?