“The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless.” — Billy Graham

The grasshopper who sang and danced all summer now lays eggs and dies before the cold of winter. The insect’s disappearance from the natural scene inspired Aesop’s fable in which the grasshopper fritters time away while the ant works to build a house and store food. Later, when the grasshopper realizes that winter is coming, he turns to the ant for help. In some versions the ant gives a cold shoulder and sends the grasshopper away. In gentler versions, the ant shares its food and shelter in return for the grasshopper providing music all winter long.

The fable is frequently taken as a morality tale of the value of hard work and the sin of sloth. But I like to think that perhaps the ant realized that the grasshopper wasn’t likely to live out the winter and as a result felt compassion.

We wrap so many illusions around ourselves to protect us from the brutal fact that from the moment we are born, we are dying, so that when the knowledge hits us, we burn with a sense of the precious brevity of each life. Compassion stirs for all of us who face the same condition. Our hearts warm toward other people, we clearly recognize their needs and pain. True compassion, then acts to do whatever is possible and necessary to relieve the suffering of others, and ourselves.

This is the one great lesson of life, the one I understand from the fable of the ant and the grasshopper.