Bird Droppings June 1, 2023
Searching for a flower, the butterfly pea (Clitoria marina), or is it gone now

Interestingly, I had two thoughts earlier in the week as I started the day that made me think of them. One I heard on the radio going to get some gas in my wife’s car from a satellite radio announcer recalling an old Bush quote, and the other thought is from Harry Potter. Unique what pops up before dawn as I ponder and wander and a trip to one of my favorite stores, my corner BP station. Kroger is still my favorite since I am limited at what my corner BP convenience store has. Quick Trip is a close third since they are open 24/7, and you never know when you might need something. It had been rather hectic this week between exercise, cooking, writing, cutting grass, reading, doing laundry, three grandchildren visiting, and catching up on emails; amazingly, it has been relaxing. What a glorious short week is still ahead!

“It is not about the goods we accumulate but about the good we do” George W. Bush

“It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices.” Professor Dumbledore to Harry in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” by J.K. Rowling

I wish it would be possible to believe the first, but with trying to drill for oil in wilderness Alaska, offshore in Florida and other parts of the country and friends in high places that were reaping huge profits and a war costing trillions of dollars that was bogus from many people’s standpoint while he was in office. It makes it hard to grasp philosophically. Although perhaps, as some people indicated in writing and articles, he was simply a puppet of others. Still, war efforts and accumulation seemed more important at the time than doing any good. Of course, the philosophy of the ends justifies the means that could be applied.

That was the approach when the last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo, and some people thought it was only a pigeon. Sadly, once billions were flying over the forests of the east coast, and yes, it is only a pigeon, except we can never at this time replicate that one; it is gone. The Alaska wilderness, even though a great expanse is gone when it is gone, can never be replicated. But if the end justifies it, many people see no problem. However, as I sat this morning, perhaps a better, brighter thought from J.K. Rowling through Dumbledore’s character: “It is our choices that show who we are.” I wonder how soon Harry Potter books will be classics, and teachers will analyze the plots and develop theories as to why Rowling characterized Harry as a boy or teenager and why an owl is his companion versus a weasel.

I recall eleventh or twelfth grade English, my teacher Ms. Stern and the Melville novel Moby Dick. According to her lessons and teachings, the ship represented the world, and Ishmael, the wanderer, got stuck on that ship. What was Melville telling us besides a great story and history of New England’s whaling industry? I enjoyed the story but not the analysis, and when I wrote my opinion based on my love of history, it was wrong, according to Ms. Stern. Many years ago, the credo was our choices, not our abilities. However, had I been in a different teacher’s class, my idea of a historical novel on the short-lived whaling industry would have been applauded.

” Ability is of little account without opportunity.” Napoleon Bonaparte

“The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.” Thomas A. Edison

Is it about being at the right place at the right time, or is it our choice? It is also about applying and choosing when an opportunity provides a window. Then the plot thickens in some of my more recent readings, several differing views, and yet again, somewhat in a line of thought parallel to the following quote.

“All things are made of energy. Thoughts and feelings, for example, are nothing more than energy. Through the choices we make, our thoughts and feelings, and even our actions, take on a distinctive nature according to the direction in which they are moved.” Dr. Michael Garrett, Walking on the Wind

“It is a fine thing to have the ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.” Elbert Hubbard

Ability is an added aspect of today’s search, and seeing in others that ability is almost an intuitive aspect of humanity.

“The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.” Booker T. Washington

As I was a bit energetic this morning, I chased a sunrise before breakfast, went to Kroger, and then fixed some brunch. However, I sat pondering on my back porch for some time, sipping green tea. I listened intently to nature and intermingled man’s interactions with an occasional car or truck sound in the distance. I have started walking daily in our pool and am up to a mile and a half each day. Amazing how much better I feel as I get through each day. I am reading and writing today for my dissertation.

I enjoy my time where I can read and answer emails and work on photography, often downloading a gazillion photos to Facebook and working in my gardens. One of my emails from a now senior in high school recently was about realizing school was nearing the end, graduation was only a year ahead, and they would have to make a way in life. In that same email, concern for a friend stationed in the Middle East was almost heart-rending. Watching the news does not do justice to friends and families with loved ones overseas still in harm’s way, as I think choices we make. As I went home, I recalled seeing a flag. Our town had a memorial to a recently fallen local fellow killed in a suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan several years ago. In other emails with a suggestion of a book to read, out of 70 or so yesterday and this morning, maybe those three caught my attention.

I started with a Bush quote, which may apply to a job search I am starting. So many of the following we do with our lives is our choice, and how the world will see that choice depends on our direction and choices. It is not the ability you will be known for or how great an actor, musician, or football player but what you do with your talent is what is seen. Aspects of the family are crucial, and friends equally and consistently seek to learn more by reading, writing, thinking, and reflecting.

“If there were no writers, there will be no readers” unknown source

“Choose wisely” has been said, and, in the end, some do and some will not. So today, take stock of where you are, look at the road ahead, and pick that pathway that will direct you where you need to be.

“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.” Basho

In today’s hectic world, we all look for quick solutions, five-minute abs, six minutes to wisdom, and one minute egg. Wisdom is not on the stock exchange; it is not a brokered commodity. It is there, and it is a journey. The journey is not easy, and to be involved in finding wisdom is difficult. It is only those who travel that road who genuinely become wise.

“True wisdom lies in gathering the precious things out of each day as it goes by.” E. S. Bouton

Several nights ago, I was bored with no American Idol, Netflix was acting up, and no other shows we watch, and I put on a video of Star Trek, of all things, “Star Trek Insurrection.” The plot revolves around a planet where all is at peace. The few 600 residents have forsaken technology for art or literature, for the aesthetics in life, and for all that they can make of themselves. Interestingly a weaver studies for 40 years to become an apprentice and another 40 to become a master weaver of rugs and tapestries. These people live on a planet whose innate radiation prolongs life and rejuvenates them, giving them time to accomplish what is inside them. It sounds so easy when the time allows it.

Daniel Day-Lewis, the actor, went and became a cobbler. He took a five-year hiatus from movies to study cobbling (shoemaking) in Europe from his master. As the Star Trek movie progressed, a comment was made about a perfect moment, a special moment that stands out above all else. Captain Pickard mentioned seeing Earth from space for the first time; many astronauts recall that moment. One morning, it was a sunrise over the Atlantic on Cumberland Island with the waves splashing about and the most brilliant reds and oranges I have ever seen. A shrimp boat slowly moved through this picture, yet the boat was insignificant in its awesomeness.

As Pickard spoke with this woman on this planet of a perfect moment, she then offered to learn to make every moment perfect, and the movie continued, and soon he saw a hummingbird flit to a flower or pollen blown from a flower.

“Wisdom is like electricity. There is no permanently wise man, but men capable of wisdom, who, being put into certain company or other favorable conditions, become wise for a short time, as glasses rubbed acquire electric power for a while.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am intrigued as I read various thoughts on wisdom; for some reason, I am always drawn to Emerson. He was controversial to some in his time yet perhaps one of his lifetime’s greatest thinkers and poets. He was alluding to wisdom as a temporary entity in his statement. The following quote is an interesting statement from a President’s oft-misunderstood

“Wisdom ofttimes consists of knowing what to do next.” Herbert Clark Hoover

“Wisdom begins at the end.” Daniel Webster

So often, we spend time simply doing, not seeking; we spend time worrying about which path to travel or preparing our needs for the journey and the destination. We forget to go; there we are, no better or worse, only we are still where we were to start. Somewhere in among all things is the destination, but the destination is not necessarily the end but a point B of line AB, and still, there is C and D and E and much more. The procrastinating journey of my doctorate, wandering and taking pictures, led me as I went flower to flower and occasionally to one I had never seen. I photographed an Atlantic pigeon wing or butterfly pea Clitoria marina a few years ago. It was growing along a dirt road near an old homestead. Sadly, after some construction, it is gone, and I have found it nowhere else in the area, but I found a source for seeds today. Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and your thoughts, and always give thanks namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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