Bird Droppings November 14, 2024

Listening to a philosopher

There was a beautiful sky this morning as I walked out, even in the rain. It was actually not too cold, which is surprising as the sky was clear. Thinking back about six years, I looked across the space between our house and the neighbors, and now the trees are gone. It was once an expanse of shrubs, trees, and pathways, a vast tangle of trees and underbrush. I used to go and sit in the mornings in my quiet spot surrounded by dense foliage. Now, it is cleared, and several houses are there in place of my green space. I knew when we moved in, this day would come, but it was no less heart-wrenching.

I cannot wait again for a night when the moon is reflecting across the sky, lighting up the white billowing clouds, always presenting a surreal picture for me as I walk out in the morning. I was reading an article in National Geographic on possible life somewhere out in the universe and all of the possibilities that continue to pop up. It has not been long since I fancied myself a philosopher of sorts. Perhaps it was my graduate work that got me truly entrenched in philosophical meandering that led to this conclusion or trying a million times to formulate a philosophy of teaching while it evolved before me. Actually, I think it is because I enjoy pondering way too much. I seem to find time to wonder and think about all that is around me as I journey through life.

“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” Henry David Thoreau

“How people keep correcting us when we are young! There is always some bad habit or other they tell us we ought to get over. Yet most bad habits are tools to help us through life.” Friedrich Nietzsche

As I looked for a starting place for my daily writing, I was interrupted to run into town to get a few things, and then I could get back to my writing. As I went up and down the stairs and walked out into a sky as wonderful as it is this morning, I recalled a period in my life when I would get up early every morning and walk several miles discussing philosophy, theology, and other relevant issues with a very good friend of mine. It was an interesting time, and actually, many concepts that I hold now come to fruition during those walks.

Over the years, as I look back and truly see most things that I consider “bad habits,” I have given up on them in the past days; however, they do provide tools for pondering ideas further and pushing thoughts beyond where they were. I have found, however, that many people get mired in that bad habit or two, and it becomes part of their life, not merely a stepping stone or tool but a crutch and support. Perhaps even a cast of sorts locking them into that point in time.

“Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation.” C. Everett Koop

Most folks won’t even recognize the name of Dr. Koop, former Surgeon General of the United States and former head of pediatric surgery at the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital. As I thought of Nietzsche’s quotes, and while not taking a walk today, I started writing a bit later today than I thought I would. Nietzsche, as you read his work, is often self-focused and negative, and perhaps in some ways, I like looking to his thoughts for contrast to add a backdrop to a brighter thought. Somewhere, I started writing about Dr. Koop.

Dr. C. Everett Koop was instrumental in the anti-cigarette laws and anti-tobacco laws. On a personal note, he was the surgeon for my younger brother many years ago when we lived in Pennsylvania. My father used to tell a story of Dr. Koop, his staff, and my father all gathered together around John, my brother, who was born with cerebral palsy and later developed encephalitis and was approaching surgery. Dad would say, having been in the Navy Medical Corp. and around death in WWII so much, the aura around Koop was different. He exuded life, he thrived on life, and when he asked all to join hands and pray around John, he made my father’s day.

But one thing that has stuck with me from dads conversation with Dr. Koop was a quote very seldom seen, “Having worked with terminally ill children and seriously ill children for many years in all of those years, I have never seen a parent of one of these children who did not have faith.” As I think back and remember bits and pieces, Dr. Koop’s comments and discussions with my father show that he wasn’t referring to religion as much as to faith. Faith also parallels trust, and it was in that trust in Dr. Koop and or trust in the hospital that parents would have faith and hope. Dr. Koop was a man of hope, of the future, and faith.

“Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not in hand.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

“Our faith comes in moments… yet there is a depth in those brief moments which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than to all other experiences.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ending on the idea of faith, I enter into a day that is about to get exciting. On Thursdays, my grandkids and I go to dinner, but tonight, we are making homemade pizza. I am ending with a simple idea for another day or actually several ideas to ponder and mull over as we ascend the plateau to view the vista. Tomorrow is a new month ahead, my friends. Have a glorious day today, build for tomorrow, keep all in harm’s way on your mind and your thoughts, and always give thanks, namaste.

Today, I will venture out to say thanks and send thoughts of healing to several friends.

My friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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