The Warrior Within – Meet Sarsaparilla
Our first introduction to the wee little lamb with the sweetest of faces, the one who we would name Sarsaparilla, came by way of an appeal for help, along with a video of her stoically trying to keep up with her dear mumma.
Despite the strongest of bonds between the two, and her mumma’s encouraging calls, and her hesitant gait, Sarsaparilla’s severely contracted tendons in her front legs prevented her from doing so.
What came next was to almost break our hearts as it was to surely break the physical connection between mother and child. Yet it was the only one that would give the tiny lamb a chance at life.
And whilst we were able to provide sanctuary for little Sarsaparilla, alas our pleas for her mumma to come too were to go unheeded.
Amongst the confusion Sarsaparilla then found herself in, she too found the warrior within.
A fierce ability to soldier on and find a calmness in what seemed an unfamiliar world. A strength and courage to accept our kindness and bottles of sweet-tasting formula, and a brave vulnerability to submit to our gentle yet determined endeavours and splints to get those legs to fulfill their charter.
Over and over, we find that in animals we have our greatest of teachers. Sarsaparilla is yet another grand master, for she passively and persuasively reminds us that the greatest battles we face in life are not those we have with one another or even between nations, but rather the demons within ourselves and how we handle adversity.
For we can wallow in self-pity and expect others to remove us from this mire, or we can find a calmness of mind to control what we can and accept what we cannot. We can summon our courage and temper it with our vulnerability and show a willingness to take risks.
And in doing all of this find our inner power – our warrior within.