The Morning Song of the Mockingbird

Our son Sam brought home a baby mockingbird. Or more accurately rescued it. He's been doing this kind of thing since he was little. Finding a baby squirrel, a baby pigeon, etc. that fell out of its nest and was about to be devoured. The only one who ever survived the orphanage and rejoined its clan was a baby crow, and that because crows are way more like us than we care to admit. They are scavengers who will eat darn near anything, very clever, gregarious, stick together in extended families and have not the greatest reputation amongst the other critters. So the two species relate to each other well.

Anyway, the mockingbird died, in spite of our best efforts. Like you couldn't see that one coming from a mile away. But for the couple of days it survived, it put me right into the world of the flying creatures. Its mother came to feed it seeds, the cats eyed it hungrily, and so on. All around us, this natural world exists, through eternity... or long enough to seem like eternity if it isn't.

The natural world is our world too. We didn't come out of thin air, nor evolve from oil rigs. We tend to separate ourselves from it, mainly because of our own inflated egos, bloated by arrogance and greed. The human species, or at least certain segments of it, seem to view nature as just some pesky, irritable woman to be exploited. Obviously, that's not the case.

What's important to remember, or be reminded of occasionally, is that Nature survives with or without us. The birds were here, doing what birds do, long before we were. And will be here long after we're gone, one presumes. And even hopes. As long as we view it as something to be exploited for our own greed, Nature, the supreme entity, will do what all entities do to survive. She will figure out ways to get rid of us. Or at least most of us. Or get us in sync.

It just feels like we've reached a tipping point. Something's got to give here. And it's much more likely to be us than Her. Personally, I'm trying to live my life as much in sync with Nature as I can, within reason. I've got a pretty good hunch She's gonna win this race.