The Tiger

When my kids were young we would always take them to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City once a year. My favorite animals were cats and I have always loved tigers. While we were in the large cat part of the zoo, my husband remarked that the tigers were looking at me. I looked at one of them and it was watching me intently. I looked into this tiger's eyes and it was like he was talking to me wordlessly. It was as if he was asking and telling all at once. I had the sense that we understood each other on another level, one that I was unaccustomed to communicating on, and felt a bit awkward with. So, I said to them without speaking out loud, "It is all going to be alright, I know it is." We moved on, but there was another place in the zoo, where those same tigers were visible and they were still looking at me. My husband said they looked like they wanted to eat me, but I didn't think so. I wanted to tell them about all the people meditating in the world and perhaps I did just by being there.