gathering my chicks ...

upon hearing my explanation of how i became friends with a couple people, KM commented that i am a "momstitute" ... since i spend much of my life looking for my own momstitute, i didn't connect to the term. so she amended it to say that i am a "mother hen" ... i asked her to explain and she said that i "gather my chicks" ...

google images

i have been thinking about that for a few days. what does it mean to gather my chicks? in how many different ways do i do that? and where does the instinct come from? 

so i googled it ... there are many religious references to a mother hen gathering her chicks, and not many references to actual chickens. 

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

When I approach a sitting hen and her chicks, she often gathers them under her wings. If I get too close she can become quite vocal. I don’t speak “chicken,” but no one will convince me that the mother hen isn’t saying, “Stay back, buddy. You can’t have MY babies!” A mother hen will do everything in her power to protect her biddies. It’s her instinct. Call it chicken love if you will, but the hen is hardwired to protect them. http://www.daveblackonline.com/chicken_love.htm

can i argue that i am hardwired to protect my friends and my family? that my depth of empathy enables (compels) me to gather my chicks under my wings and try my best to prevent pain and suffering?

The Free Dictionary defines a mother hen as:

- a person who fusses over others in an overprotective manner.
- a person who attends to the welfare of others, esp. one who is fussily protective.
- a person who cares for the needs of others (especially in an overprotective or interfering way)

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mother+hen

now those are things that i can relate to. i don't like to see people left out. i like to gather them into my community. i don't like to see children being hurt, i collect them and bring them into my heart. i become invested in the emotional lives of the people that i care about, and i am "fussily protective" of their feelings and their affairs. and as much as it is empathetic of me to "care for the needs of others" it most certainly plays out in an overprotective and sometimes interfering way. 

i don't think that my mother hen behaviour is all bad. i gather my people to me. i care about my people. i care about their well-being and i don't want to see them hurt. and i get protective when i feel they are being mistreated or misunderstood. 

i also gather the emotions of my people. and at times, i try to interfere and mediate their emotions. and this isn't good for me (the hen) or for my people (the chicks). 

if you are one of my chicks, and you likely know who you are ... i gather you to me with love and protection. and i don't mean to mediate your emotions. and i care about all of you very deeply. 

i am going to continue thinking about gathering chicks and will write a part 2 when i have worked through the metaphor further. 

i will leave you with this confusing image of a fox and a hen ... will the fox eat the hen? can the hen gather the fox under her wing? is the nature of foxes such that the hen will become dinner regardless of the hen's innate instinct to protect?