A Drama That Did Not Happen

Once upon a time there was a little rabbit named Bunny who lived in a beautiful meadow with lots of friends and family. Bunny was happy.

Bunny sometimes got allergies from the pollen in the air or the food she ate. Dr Rabbit did tests and said they weren't so bad. Bunny would just have to live with it. He did not have tests for every problem but he had medicine. Some medicines worked and some did not. One medicine worked but it made Bunny very sleepy, the worse the allergy, the sleepier it made Bunny.

When Bunny got allergies, it would make her skin kind of itchy and things that normally did not hurt would hurt Bunny, like rabbits touching too hard. If they gave her a friendly thump, it sometimes left a bruise. Not all the time. Only with the allergy.

Bunny's allergies sometimes made her head hurt and made noises seems very loud and painful. Allergies made everything uncomfortable.

One day Bunny's rabbit friends wanted her to go with them to an activity with lots of other rabbits. Bunny said no, she did not want to go. Maybe another time. The rabbit friends did not understand allergies and how Bunny felt because it had never happened to them. So the rabbit friends kept asking why over and over.

She tried to tell them about allergies and being very sleepy fi she took the medicine. They wanted to know what it felt like. Bunny told her friends that Gabby rabbit's talking was loud and hurt her ears sometimes when she had allergies. Rabbits did not understand that it was not Gabby's fault. It was an allergy. So Tattletale rabbit ran and told Gabby rabbit that Bunny said she was too loud and didn't want to be around her. Of course this hurt Gabby and made her unhappy at her friend Bunny. Bunny was not mad at Gabby and knew the allergy had nothing to do with Gabby. On days there was no allergy, Bunny liked being around Gabby.

Tippy rabbit decided that Gabby was too loud too, and proceeded to tell others. Poor Gabby! Gabby was not too loud. Bunny had an allergy.

Bunny told the rabbits that it hurt when Bear hug rabbit thumped her playfully and hugged her when she had allergies. So Tattletale rabbit ran and told Bear rabbit that she was too rough and Bunny was mad at her. Then all the other little rabbits decided Bear rabbit was too rough too. Bear rabbit was not too rough. Bear rabbit was sad that everybody was so critical of her all of a sudden. Bunny had allergies and some things hurt when she had them that did not hurt normally. Other bunnies who gave big bunny hugs hurt too.

Hearty rabbit decided that Bunny must be sickly all the time and started treating her like she was an invalid. That was annoying because everything was fine when there were no allergies.

Skeptic rabbit decided that, since Bunny did not have allergies every day, she must be making it up. She got together with a few other rabbits to lecture Bunny on how she was just a hypochondriac, and a wimp and a liar. They didn't believe it at all. Rabbit hollow was not a happy place.

There is not always somebody at fault when things do not work right.

If Bunny had not told what hurt her, it would have saved the feelings of several rabbits. The only one any rabbits would have been upset with was Bunny for saying no.

Real life is much more complicated than a Bunny story (based on someone I am related to and known many years). We do not know what is going on for other persons. We need to be kind and assume the best, just as we hope others will assume the best about us.

Is that car that is swerving in front of us because of a drunk driver or a toddler who got loose and is trying to escape the driver, or a person who had a momentary lapse,as we all have, that was unintentional?

Kindness and grace, something we can all use and give.