SON: You know, Daddy, I don’t like Uncle Monching.

DADDY: And why? What did he do to you?

SON: He shouted at me.

DADDY: Perhaps you did something wrong.

SON: I threw a stone at our chicken.

DADDY: So? Is that the right thing to do?

SON: Why? That’s an animal. If I stoned a person, that would be wrong, But an animal, that’s okay, right?

DADDY: Wrong. Didn’t mommy tell you to be kind to animals?

SON: Is a chicken an animal?

DADDY: Of course.

SON: Then why do we eat chicken? Is that being kind to animals?

DADDY: What I mean is …. what I mean is …

SON: Well, I hate Uncle Monching, that’s it.

DADDY: But son, he is my brother.

SON: So?

DADDY: So, you hate daddy also?

SON: Oh no, just Uncle Monching.

DADDY: But we are from the same blood. So, you hate me also?

SON: Is that the way it is?

DADDY: Yes, that’s the way it is.

SON: Okay, I don’t hate Uncle Monching anymore, but I don’t like him. Wait, wait, stop, I love you, dad.

DADDY: If you love me, you must also love my brother.

SON: You’re giving me a hard time.

DADDY: Okay, let’s not eat chicken anymore.

SON: Daddy, chicken is my favorite. Okay, okay, I will love Uncle Monching (sigh). Mommy is wrong in her being kind to animals. Let’s just eat animals. And I will now be kind to Uncle Monching.

DADDY: But how does one turn hate into love? Not that easy, right? You cannot love Uncle Monching just because we argued and I won.

SON: You are right. Love must come from the heart, not from the mind. So, I have a solution.

DADDY: Okay?

SON: You tell Uncle Monching to love me and stop shouting at me.

DADDY: Wrong. The change must come from you since you were the one who made the mistake.

SON: Stoning the chicken? Not a mistake, Dad.

DADDY: So what do we do?

SON: Simple. I stop stoning chickens before we kill and eat them. I can do that, even if I don’t see the point.

DADDY: That’s from the heart.

SON: Right, love is blind. I will tell Uncle I am sorry and I will not stone chickens anymore; just eat them. Deal?

DADDY: Deal.

SON: Love you, dad. Love you, uncle. Give me five, Daddy.

Lessons learned.

Love comes from the heart, not from the mind. There is no logic to love because it is blind to the logical things the mind frets over. As the saying goes, “Love is blind and lovers cannot see.” Love must always have its way over the mind.

But there are exceptions. There are times when the mind must have its way. Or, we must reconcile our hearts and minds, which are many times in conflict. We can eat chickens and let the mind get its way that we cannot stop eating chickens just because we have to be kind to animals. Sometimes, we need to reconcile our hearts and minds — before we go crazy.

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