Social Workout

Spirit Guides

In Punk Against Mouse, Love Wins

[We're midway through The Love Challenge, and yet the ranks of challengers are swelling! Wonderful. Gather round then, and quiet down in the back, as it's time to hear from another of our Spirit Guides. Tim Haft, creator of Punk Rope and old school New York fitness rebel, has a story to tell.... The Eds.]

I’m in big trouble. Oliver has asked me to write a meditation on how to train for love and I’m drawing a big-ass blank. I have that queasy feeling in my stomach—the kind you get on a job interview when you have no fucking idea what you’re talking about and haven’t a clue what the interviewer is asking either. 

I methodically search my memory for all occurrences of love, skipping over what seems like a never-ending parade of failed romantic relationships. Oddly enough, what first comes to mind as worth sharing is an experience I had with a small grey mouse just over 25 years ago.

I was sitting at my desk in my vermin-infested studio apartment on Sterling Place and Flatbush Avenue poring over some obscure sociology text that was required reading for one of my grad courses. I was far from comfortable. In fact, I was downright tense and couldn’t concentrate at all. You see, I had just strategically deployed a series of glue traps hoping to beat back the furry rodent army that had recently invaded my domain. Truth be told, I didn’t want the mice to die. I just wanted them to leave. I couldn’t bear the thought of using a spring-loaded trap as it would crush the poor creatures. But was a glue trap any more humane? I suppose I would find out soon enough.

The screech came suddenly, much like an automobile accident that catches you off guard. But there was no shattered glass. No screams. No sirens. Startled, I looked up to find a tiny mouse held captive by one of the traps. I walked closer to investigate. There were no bystanders. It was just me and the mouse. Eye to eye. Mano a mano (I think it was a male). And then all of a sudden, probably much like the Grinch on that fateful Christmas Day, I had an epiphany and my heart grew a few sizes.

This mouse—let’s call him Tony—was a living, breathing, LOVING creature. What the hell was I doing? I had no right to play judge, jury, and executioner. I took a deep breath and as gently as I could I pried his little paws out of the glue (thank God his legs didn’t tear off) and I set him free. Then I swiftly gathered up all the other traps and chucked them in the trash. The next day I stopped eating meat altogether. And every day since then I’ve done my best to remind myself that all God’s creatures, big and small, deserve a place in my heart.

So as you embark on this very special LOVE Challenge try to do so with empathy, compassion, and mindfulness for yourself, as well as for all those around you, whether they be big fish, little mice, or regular old humans.