Do No Harm

There is a non-profit grass-roots movement going on across the continent. It's called: Do No Harm. Two internet friends started it with a common goal: to promote kindness. I admire the other many people who have committed themselves to spreading the word of this wonderful movement. The message is so simple that most people don't even understand what it means. Many of them, when given free bracelets or bumper stickers promoting the movement, are perplexed about the meaning and try to turn it into something complicated.

What does "Do No Harm" mean to you? It's a phrase that conjures up many different ideas depending upon your individual conditioning of your life. For many people, it simply means don't cause harm to anyone. For me, I include that meaning, but I take it a bit further. Perhaps it is because I had the fortunate experience of having a mother who was aware of the preciousness of all life, not just human life, and she shared that with me in many ways. She saw all life as sacred because she nearly died of TB when she was quite young, in her early twenties. She watched some of her close friends die of the disease, yet miraculously she was spared.

I was shown by my mother how to love and care for a simple, tiny flower, a baby fir tree just starting to grow, and a helpless injured bird. We took care of kittens, dogs, birds, turtles, and any creature that came our way. She showed me that the discovery of a beautiful stone was more precious than money, a feather left by a bird was a treasured gift, that even the smallest of insects feel pain and have the right to live, and our beautiful earth itself was a sacred spinning jewel.

Many people and children today aren't as fortunate to have had someone in their lives show them the sacredness of all live. The "Do No Harm" movement is needed to remind us to be aware of our responsibility to be kind, to promote kindness, and to teach young children kindness toward all living beings and our precious earth.