Day 40 Appearances Part 1 The Rabbit and the Hare

In life we can come across people who seem very similar on the outside but who are in fact very different. Take the rabbit and the hare. Most don’t know how to tell the difference from looking at them. But do you know that they aren’t even the same species? Rabbits bear young which are fur less and blind at birth and rely heavily on their mother, whilst hares come into the world with both fur and sight and can walk on their own within an hour. Rabbits like to congregate in social groups whereas hares are loners, only coming together with another hare in order to mate. The majority of rabbits live below ground whilst most hares live above ground. From their external look, all you would really see is that hares are slightly bigger on the whole than rabbits. There is little to tell them apart. However, once you begin to study their habitat and eating habits and how they live their lives, it is only then that you can truly know how different they are. Many go around with a label saying “I’m a rabbit” or “I’m a hare” and yet when you begin to study their habits and how they live their lives, you discover that they are not really who they say or believe they are. It is not the externals that tell us who people are, it is their way of living. Some say they care for the planet, but do nothing to look after or nurture her. Others declare themselves full of love and yet walk past strangers on the streets struggling with life and have no care or compassion for them.

We sometimes believe that if we tell people we are a very cute little bunny rabbit that they will believe us. But It is not what we say that counts. It is what we do. Our behaviour gives away our hearts. Many spend so long trying to get the external, visible part as they want it, yet forget that however appealing a well prepared meal might look, you won’t know how good it is until you have tasted it. People need to see past the superficial in order to find the real. We need to care less about how we look to others, for whilst at first they might not be sure if we are a hare or a rabbit, our behaviours will give us away. How important are your external circumstances and life to you? How much time do you spend getting those externals right so that others will see you in a particular way?

How often do you focus on nurturing internal characteristics? When you do, what have you focused most on and why?

When you focus on others, do you dwell more on external or internal considerations? What does this tell you about yourself?