Good Morning
everyone
Thank you for
coming to our Sunday Dharma school service this morning.
gGood morning!h
gOh, Good morning
Sakura. How are you this morning?f
gIfm fine. Ouchch
gOh, I know why
you have a band aid on your head.h
gYou do?h
gYes, at our last
Sunday service, Kana-mochi had a band aid on his head and I heard the story
that you two were fighting! Is
that why you didnft come to service last week?h
gNo, I didnft come
to church last week, because I had to play basketball.h
gI see. Well, you had better check our church
web site to watch my last Sunday speech about the fight you had with Kana Mochi.h
gOk, Rev. Kaz. I will check it out. Would you like to see a picture.h
gWhat kind of
picture do you want to show me?h
gLet me seec Here it is. I have been talking with my mom about getting a cat.h
gOh, thatfs great.h
gSo, we went to an
animal shelter to see some cats last week.h
gDid you ask your
dad about this, too?h
gNo, I didnft. In my family, my mom rules. So, when my mom says ok, it is ok for anything
and everything.h
gOh, I see.h
gAnyway, I looked
at 3 cats, they were Smoky, Buddy and Lucy.h
gOh, they are
pretty cats. Do you know that Rev.
Harry Bridge, the resident minister of the Lodi Buddhist church found his cat gSailyh
at a cat shelter?h
gOh, really?h
gYes. There are many cats in those shelters. I heard that one of the Animal protection
organizations gPet Shelterh cares for over 9000 cats and dogs in the United
States.h
g9000 cats and
dogs? How come?h
gMost of them were
found wondering and homeless. I
guess their families gave up on caring for those cats and dogs.h
gOh, poor thingsch
gMany people take
care of their cats and dogs as one of their family members. But some people do not take care of
their animals very wellch
gOh, noch
gSo, I just wanted
to know if you have considered the responsibility of caring for a catc Otherwise, you may easily give up and
stop caring for your catch
gWhat are you trying
to say?h
gCaring for our
pets teach us very important life lessonsc
And in taking care
of our pets, we will learn a sense of responsibility.h
gA sense of
responsibility? What do you mean
by that?h
gWhen we take care
of someone or something, we have to feed and protect them as part of our
responsibility. I will give you an
example. I have a 60 gallon fish
tank with over 20 tropical fish.
Every night Michi or I feed them to sustain their lives.
If we forget to feed them, they may
easily die. Because they are small
and tiny fish. When we are away
from home for a couple of days or a week, I always set an automatic feeder on
the top of the fish tank and I have to make sure that the battery in the feeder
is also ok. Then I also put some
solid dry food in the tank, just in case the battery dies. That is just part of my responsibility in
taking care of our tropical fish.
When I take care of them, I really feel they are a part of my familych
gOh, I did not
consider thatch
gThis is a great
responsibility but it is also fun to welcome many other living things as member
of my family. This means we must take
care of not only our pet, animals, but also we must take care of our plants.h
gIs that really
so?h
gYes, because,
many people love their plants and take care of their plants when they garden. Although the plants donft say anything,
they take care of their plants like they would their children. We may also learn a sense of caring and
responsibility through gardening.h
gI see.h
gSo, before you consider
getting a pet, you should discuss about the many responsibilities involved in caring
for your new pet family member, whether it be a fish or dog, or catcor even a
plant.h
gI will, Rev. Kaz. Thank you for your advice.h
gI hope you will
enjoy your life with your new family member and also maintain your new responsibilities.h
gThank you, I
will. See you Rev. Kaz.h
gSee you Sakura.h
Gassho
When we take care
of someone or something, we have to feed and protect them as a part of our
responsibility. In taking care of
them, we will learn many important life lessons and understand more deeply, what
it means to be responsible and caringc