Bird Droppings May 23, 2025
Individuality can be a lonely journey for some of us, a lifelong pathway.

It was fifteen years ago that I walked out about 1:30 AM this morning, taking our westie for her constitutional, and off in the pines that are within a hundred feet of our house, several hundred acres of dense pines, a barred owl was calling. I am used to the great horned owls and screech owls that periodically abound in our area, but this was a first. Could it be that my jimson weed, moon flowers are blooming now, except they never got started this year for some reason? They have trumpet-shaped white blooms and were imported from Pennsylvania on my last trip north. I am generally not one to import weeds, but it is a unique plant. Jimson weed, datura, is a relative of the belladonna family and is very toxic. It is considered a medicinal plant and has been used by Native Americans for thousands of years. The plant was generally used to lead to a vision quest on an individual basis.

“The ultimate test of a man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” Gaylord Nelson

Does the end justify the means? I have wondered about this for as long as I can remember. Daily thinking about what I do or what others do, justifying based on what may be later, or may not be, than all that is done was not justified. Sometimes it is much easier to live in the moment alone.

“The price for independence is often isolation and solitude.” Steve Schmidt

“Independence, I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.” Mary Wollstonecraft

Living to the tune of a different drummer, following that beat, so often within the context, you find you are alone in your journey. Humanity is a herding animal and prefers to be with their group or in a group, whether they agree or disagree with the philosophical meanderings of that group. I started thinking back to my shepherding days and working with large groups of sheep. The herding instinct is stronger in various breeds and in effect makes some easier and or harder to work. Most traditional British breeds will herd instinctively, which is a defense mechanism. The weaker sheep tend to fall outside and are devoured; the stronger, healthier sheep physically flock and stay tight.

But what of that one who dares to leave the confines of the flock, the Mary Wollstonecrafts of life, who was one of the most independent thinkers of her time?

“Each man must have his ‘I’; it is more necessary to him than bread; and if he does not find scope for it within the existing institutions, he will be likely to make trouble.” Charles Horton Cooley

“Individuality is either the mark of genius or the reverse. Mediocrity finds safety in standardization.” Frederick E. Crane

So often in the world, we can see where people tend to want to be part of a group for the ease of existence. An effort to let others make the choices and we will live our existence out following along, makes thinking so much easier. I recall the stress of the teacher of forty years who could not function without the prepackaged lessons and transparencies of the textbook author. It was in a subject that she had taught so many times before. Today’s educational standardization often follows the group mentality. In the business world, so often workers plow along, staying in the groove. Students find being part of a group so much easier than being unique, thinking on their own, because teachers provide examples.

“We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do.” Ethel Barrett

“A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

I find it so amusing that in high school, I cannot remember reading Emerson, yet I found a report I had done in tenth or eleventh grade on Emerson in my boxes. We strive so hard to maintain an image yet are torn within. Watching students, so often those who have a different drum beat than the “norm” are the ones who get into trouble. Their life strategy is different from most. I know of one fellow in particular who is always outside the realm of what many call normalcy.

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?” Rabbi Hillel

“My mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general; if you become a monk, you’ll end up as the pope.” Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time.” Pablo Picasso

I listened in on a meeting to a statement of research; research shows that teachers who care about their students, and amazingly, their students do better, “duhhhhh!” Ok, so we are going to have you caring more about your students by doing this or that, and the sheep follow. It is interesting how we know answers to questions and answers so often with the opposite answer, and actually know it is wrong. Maybe no one else will know it, or maybe it is the answer someone else wants to hear.

“A happy life is in accordance with its nature.” Seneca

“Those who talk about individuality the most are the ones who most object to deviation, and in a few years it may be the other way around. Someday everybody will think what they want to think, and then everybody will probably be thinking alike,” Andy Warhol.

I wonder if sheep are trying to fit in, or does humanity have a herding instinct as well? Years ago, my father wanted some exotics, and one of those was a breed of sheep called Jacob four-horned. The story goes that these were the sheep Jacob picked out with spots from the bible stories. They are a breed with black and white wool in large spots, but they also have four horns or five or six sometimes, and they grow in no particular order, and often rams have to have their horns trimmed as they grow back into their heads.
Actually, most of this is true except for the biblical part: They originated in Scandinavia. So why would I interject a story of a Jacob sheep? These sheep have their own unique defense mechanism. When ewes have lambs and a predator attacks the flock, they all explode in different directions and then flock again later. I have watched herding dogs try to chase Jacob sheep or herd Jacob sheep and become frustrated. Only experienced dogs can handle these crazy sheep.

“I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave, and success and miscarriage are empty sounds: I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquility, having little to fear or hope from censure or praise.” Samuel Johnson

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” Ellie Wiesel

Several years ago, a local reporter wrote an article about me in terms of shepherding. I had started a program working with indigent families, The Shepherd’s Staff Ministry. It just so happens that they are still going and still feeding families. At one point in time, I was also one of the larger sheep producers in Georgia, which is an interesting parallel to the story. As I think back now, as teachers, we are shepherds, but that effort should be a guiding effort, not a leading one, and perhaps that is the difference I am trying to find today. We should guide rather than lead. We should point in the direction instead of pulling to. So for today, peace my friends, and please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts, namaste.

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

 Mitakuye Oyasin

 (We are all related)

 docbird