CEBU, Philippines – Just what has the sparrow got to do with sorrow? I didn't know that until I bumped into a website featuring an article titled, "Sorrow of Sparrows, on World Sparrow Day." I didn't know there is such a day and that the designated date is March 20. After going over the article, I felt so human, realizing sorrow has set in on me. The article hit me quite significantly.
I love to identify myself with the sparrow. In fact, I'm writing a book series entitled "Yet Not One Sparrow." That is why this writing opens with a reference to the sparrow. However, this article relates only to the awareness concerning the emotion of sorrows and the aspects of the human side of us.
If you read the article mentioned above, it will certainly rouse your heart for it brings to our attention the plight of the sparrows. They have become scarce due to modernization. The poor bird is now deemed as another endangered species as its world, already pitiful and neglected, is fast shrinking.
Truly we feel worried, woeful, and pathetic about it, seeing their predicament. Their sorrowful situation surely tugs at our heartstrings. Although we cannot halt progress intrusion; still we can help preserve our ecosystem. Greeneries such as forests, mountains, plantations, and the simple garden at our backyards are natural habitats of birds. All these can serve as their sanctuaries.
"Hope gives you wings," we say. We can make things happen. I always spruce up my garden, not just for beautification but also for sheltering of the sparrows. I maintain a bird house there, a bird bath, a bird swing, a bird feeder with bird food, all such things to keep the birds coming back. Surely, you too adore sparrows, don't you?
Just imagine if your garden is empty of birds. Considering their status, we can but feel sorrow for them. God feels, too, because Luke said, "Yet not one sparrow is forgotten by God." There is no reason why we humans would not sense the same. Being in sorrow is an innate characteristic of ours. It is a sensitivity that is rooted in the foundation of our heart. It is something that is lodged in the consciousness of our mind.
You see, you feel, you heal. Everyone does. For every hurtful feeling, there is a helpful measure. Suffering, hatred, despair, loneliness, anxiety, for examples, can be answered by ways of, respectively, comfort, affection, hope, attention, calming down. And for that matter, where there is sorrow, let us sow compassion.
Indeed, as the saying goes, "sorrows keep you human." We know it is from our inmost heart that our actual feelings and emotions emanate - essentially genuine, profound and intense. They are so immense too, with corresponding experiences, effects and impressions. The human heart is at the center of this. Human qualities of virtues, like goodness, kindness and warmth define our very nature.
It is the heart that brings forth the emotion of compassion with us. It is from the fullness of our heart that we respond to the world with sympathy, charity, understanding, concern, forgiveness, and like benevolent emotions. We just have a natural urge to help alleviate and remedy, to bring peace and joy, to give solace and motivation, to give hope and inspire.
No man has ever lived that knows no sorrows. Even the hardest of hearts is vulnerable to the dictates of conscience and a deep sense of sentiment. None of us can get away from emotions; we can only learn to live with these. Oh, yes, we can!
Grieve not, human. "Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal."