Animals?

I am sitting in the hotel room listening to kids run through the hallway. It sounds like they are heading to the pool on the first floor. They sound so happy and excited, like a pack of river otters heading off to the slippery bank. I was reminded on Friday of how closely humans resemble animals. Their behaviors are the same as ours; they are just trying to feed and care for their young, doing their best to survive. They bare their teeth and threaten us, but only to protect the things they hold dear...family, food, water, habitat. Just as many thousands of people have discovered recently in Japan, when life boils down to the necessities, you will do what you need to to make sure you survive. There are some things that humans need that not all animals need: love, acceptance. However, there is one thing that animals do not need, that all humans do, forgiveness. Sometimes it is hard to forgive when those basic needs have been messed with. We blame others, we blame the world, we blame God. But blaming God makes it difficult to accept the ultimate gift- forgiveness. The needs of this world are not the needs of the eternal home, and that is hard to remember as we bare our teeth and charge.