24 Comments
User's avatar
AËLA's avatar

"Not everything

can be saved.

But everything

belongs."

What she was

really rescuing

was never

only the bird.

It was the girl

who heard crying

no one else

could hear.

— AËLA

Sylvie Muir's avatar

Thank you, time to focus on that girl a little more now. 💙

Penelope Jayne Art's avatar

A story with a lot of heart ❤️

Sylvie Muir's avatar

Thank you 💙

Celeste's avatar

Compassion, as you describe it, is empathy. The key is in what you wrote, "...for a moment, the distance...disappears." A moment of as if the other, and then we have to regain our own identity, our own boundary. It's powerful.

Sylvie Muir's avatar

Of course, you're right! Thank you. Empathy is a wonderful gift, but I wonder if mine has sometimes been a double edged sword... 💙

Celeste's avatar

It can be if, as your essay implies, you prolong the transient identification with another or forget that what you're feeling belongs to the other (not to you).

Sylvie Muir's avatar

You're right. It took me a long time to realise that distinction, and I'm still learning it. 🌱

Lila Cave-Park's avatar

loved reading this <3 i had a family of starlings in my house once - luckily they fell into a chimney not in use and it had a little door they could come out of.

the line, "If something is frightened or lost, and I have seen it, then I am responsible." really resonated with me, i feel this deeply. it is a feeling that becomes near impossible to ignore

Celia Abbott's avatar

Perhaps it is a gift of healing in you as well. Which works great except in interpersonal relationships. Yet gives you ability to see it clearly in strangers.

Sylvie Muir's avatar

Yes, I am glad m, but you're right you often take responsibility for things that were never yours in relationships. Thank you for reading so carefully 💙

Steve Wilson's avatar

Perhaps, indeed. What a captivating, beautiful story today, Sylvie. Thank you. 💙

Sylvie Muir's avatar

Thank you Steve! Hope you're having a great day. 💙

Steve Wilson's avatar

Seeing your email 1st thing in my morning is always a great start to a great day! 💙

Sylvie Muir's avatar

Thank you, that's lovely!

Georgina de Glanville's avatar

This was beautifully written, I like reading pieces like this, I enjoy writing in a similar way 🌹

Sylvie Muir's avatar

Thank you so much! Actually I have a question about your Tarot post from yesterday, so I will see you in the comments after the school run 😊

Georgina de Glanville's avatar

Look forward to it 🌹

Awaken The Legend Within's avatar

Not many writer make me feel like I am there with them, but you write in that way. Great message as well, thank you.

Sylvie Muir's avatar

This means so much to me, I've been there in your writing too, in all the golden places and the scary ones. 💙

Nadia Barghout Brown's avatar

This is beautiful. And full of such deep humility and wisdom. Thank you, @Sylviemuir. ❤️

Sylvie Muir's avatar

Such kind words, thank you for being here and following along. 💙

Sylvie Muir's avatar

They are such loud, characteful birds aren't they? Yes it's so hard to ignore, even when sometimes, with people it makes you cross your own boundaries too easily. Thank you for reading. 💙

Rev. Kevin T. Taylor's avatar

Sylvie turns a childhood rescue into a lifelong moral equation, then allows the woods to revise it. The attic, smashed airbrick, returning starling, later animals, and fledgling left in leaf litter create a complete movement from intervention toward release. The essay’s authority comes from examining the exhaustion, persistence, and fear of abandonment hidden inside an identity built around saving.