Jack Kornfield told this story and I called bogus despite his challenge to research this story for myself, for it was just too unbelievable. But I took him up on his challenge and found the report.
"Warm lives are drawn to each other in cold places," said Kornfield. Do you believe this to be true?
From my experience, I don't always believe this to be accurate. I have worked in inner city schools void of much hope, places with little light shining for good. I have seen the bright faces scorned for shining. I have seen the warm hearts cooled by fiery tempers and harsh power born out of survival.
But then I came to Japan. I have experienced kindness with no expectation for repayment, reward, or recognition. There is something to my adopted culture here that connects with this bear story. At times, being a foreigner can be exciting, new, and interesting -- utterly vibrant. At other times it can be isolating and lonely, and it never fails that a warm heart will cross my path when I dip into one of those troughs of sorrow. Humanity comes through.
According to Reuters, "A mother bear appears to have cared for a missing 16-month-old Iranian toddler who was found safe and sound three days later in the animal's den...10 km away... and was probably breast fed by the bear."
A number of nomadic Lur tribes continue to exist in the province. Among the settled urban populace the authority of tribal elders still remains a strong influence, though not as dominant as it is among the nomads. As in Bakhtiari Lurs and Kurdish societies, northern Lur women have had much greater freedoms than women in other Iranian groups.
For information about feral children, read this article. To read an excerpt from Ms. Kingsolver's book, click here. Order the book here. Download the audio here.
 |
| Lorestan Province |
Support:
AJ Snook's Amazon Author Page
Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks
No comments:
Post a Comment