All Tangled Up and When to Ask for Help

Uncategorized Mar 10, 2022

By Ariana Strozzi Mazzucchi, 3/8/2022

I was walking down the sheep field this morning to let the sheep out of the barn for their daily grazing in the vineyard, and I noticed one of the rams up close to a metal gate. It was an odd scene. Sheep don't just stand still like that. Immediately I noticed his beautiful curved horn was stuck in an old piece of fence that the previous shepherd had used to patch the gate to keep coyotes out. In his efforts to get out he had twisted the wire tightly around his horn. “Thank goodness it is just your horn dude.” I whispered to him. I tried to help him extricate his horn, but the more he struggled the more I could see my petite fingers could easily be excised if they got in the wrong place as he struggled.

I looked him in the eye and said, “I’ll be right back with some wire cutters.” He had not struggled until I was there helping him as if he knew I was there to help and to surely let me know where and how he was stuck. As I hurried up the field, I promised myself I would keep a pair of wire cutters in my feeding jacket from now on. There are all kind of old, funky wire panels on this new place I call home and this was a good warning sign to attend and mend the fences as soon as I can.

On my return he was quiet as if waiting for me. I cut one wire, he pulled, I cut another and so on until he freed himself. What a perfect metaphor for this newsletter I thought. I went around the field and cut out several panels of hog wire that had become dangerous because of wear and tear, bent and loose, an accident waiting to happen.

I thought about the metaphor of getting caught in the wire fence. The more the ram struggled the more tangled and in danger he became. He would not have gotten out without assistance.

What a lesson for these times. The gate is the way in or the way out, the transition point. To change your form (transform) you must be able to open it. Yet, you can’t open the gate when you are entangled in it. It reminds me of how our rational mind can bind us up with overthinking. We get stuck in hesitation, like the ram stuck to the gate, thinking that if we could just find the right answer, we could move forward. But all too often it doesn’t work out that way. These days we need to move without knowing the answers, and sometimes we need to move without even knowing where we are going.

How easy it was for the ram to allow me to help reminded me that now is a time to ask for help where you need it and to allow others to assist. It’s not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of courage. We need each other. We need to be able to help each other and be helped. In this time are you the one in need of assistance or the one who can offer assistance? I look forward to hearing your reflections.

All Tangled Up and When to Ask for Help

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