Our daughter lives in an area where big cats roam. She tells us interesting stories about their behaviour or sends us photographs that require a great deal of studying before we see a little face peeping through the leaves. I’ve never seen a leopard but now I think about them a lot.
One day two female leopards came face to face with one another. Sometimes territories overlap and they have their feline ways of sorting things out, but on this occasion there was very little interaction and the one simply walked away. It’s not that she was shy or weak or scared. It’s not even that she had no fight in her for her territory or her rights. She just remembered that she had something far more valuable than land to look out for; a cub. She understood that to fight would be to risk her well-being, and in her wisdom she chose the route that made her look inferior.
Some battles aren’t worth fighting. That’s a good point.
Making judgements or assumptions about others is not a good idea, because we cannot possibly know the story from all angles. That’s another good point.
The children and I read Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga daily. If you don’t know what I am talking about you are definitely missing out. One brother often appears to be disregarding good advice. He seems, for the moment, to be thinking only of himself and his brother resents him for it. He judges his behaviour and his anger mounts towards his own flesh and blood. As the full story unfolds, both reader and fuming brother realise that what appeared to be disregard or defiance was actually noble courage roaring to the fore to protect those around him.
We do this as humans. I wonder how often we get the wrong end of the stick and we withhold our support from the valiant souls who have been misunderstood.
Leopards don’t always just walk away, however. Not even if cubs are involved. On another occasion a hefty hyena was badgering a cub in a tree. There appeared to be a kill hanging in the branches too; probably why Mr Opportunist was there in the first place. In the blink of an eye, the hyena tugged on the leopard cub’s leg and pulled him out of the tree. Quicker than a blink, like a torpedo of whiskery, spotted swear words, the mama leopard flew out of hiding and was onto that unprepared hyena. He was walloped within an inch of his life and took off galloping as fast as his self-indulged form could manage, without so much as a backward glance. I would not be surprised if he died of a heart attack soon after.
Do not mess with the offspring of a big cat. Do not try to get your conniving jaws into the food that she tracked and hunted down for her loved one. Good point.
And so, in conclusion, fight or don’t fight. It’s your call and we will all do our utmost to believe the best and not offer so many of our five cents from the peanut gallery. The full picture will be fully seen and known one day and the main thing is that you were wise and confident in the instinct and good ability the Creator gave you.
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