Hare

Chloe Dalton is a British political adviser and foreign policy specialist. Nothing I have done comes close to her job.

When I read her book Raising Hare, I felt an unexpected sense of chasing her footprint, and that of a baby hare she rescued from being chased by a dog.  

Before her learning to care for the abandoned baby hare, Chloe Dalton had put work ahead of almost everything. No family meal. No outing with friends. Not much sleep but plenty of mid-morning coffee. Her days were long, punctuated by tapping keyboards, exhausting phone ringtones, and a waking nightmare of crisis now and then.

To cope with the demanding work environment, she became impervious to looks and to comments, and to warnings about burnout. The breaking point came one ordinary afternoon, when she came face to face with a baby hare the size of her palm. She slowed down to quieter, more gentle rhythms.

All because she couldn't miss the advice from a wild animal: to run away from the barking dog and find the simplicity of life.

I wish I could find my hare, one day.