Bird Droppings November 27, 2025

I saw a Red-Tailed Hawk

As I look at that statement, it isn’t very sensible for many. A red-tailed hawk crossed my path as I traveled yesterday, flying across the road and landing in a tree. Since we moved in, a pair of hawks has hunted the fields and hedgerows behind our house. For some, each sighting of a specific animal has significance. I have had an affinity for red-tailed hawks for many years. By my desk at home are tail feathers framed, and even my daily meanderings, Bird Droppings is based on the idea that not all bird droppings are bad, a red-tailed hawk feather as an example.

It has been nearly sixteen summers since I had the privilege of teaching in our summer school program. They changed from a two-week session to a two-day class schedule, from actual learning to worksheets sort of in intersession, and the fun is gone. It was a lot of fun back in the day, surveying the campus flora and fauna. On day one of class, I asked how many plants were on the campus, meaning actual different kinds of plants. The answers ranged from ten to fifty. We investigated and found as many plants on campus as we could. We would press them and label them. Most of my teaching in summer school was hands-on, and I had a near 100% pass rate on the actual biology or physical science final.

 “Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world agrees with it, nor less so even if the whole world disagrees with it.” Maimonides

That statement is significant in education and politics today. As the summer school session went on, we pressed and labeled over 100 different kinds of plants, trees, and shrubs directly on the school campus, and still had many more to go. So, where is the significance to a red-tailed hawk? Really, it is only one of several species of raptors in Georgia, and it is not uncommon to see it sitting along the roadside, often waiting for prey in cleared areas of easements and fields. However, it has been nearly a month since I saw one, which is significant because I look for them. Much like my students, until they looked, they really did not know how many plants were so close at hand.

I am also always amazed: when we look too hard, we miss what is in front of us. Yesterday, I was not directly looking for a hawk, and it appeared. A single second or two later, and I would have missed it. Life is much like this as well. I spent many hours looking for something simple, only to find that I had looked in the place where I had begun and did not see it.

I am not one to normally save an editorial page, but today I found one from many, many years ago that I had filed away. I happened to glance through the pages of the AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), and several editorials on one page caught my attention. One opinion was about the sin tax proposed by the governor on cigarettes and alcohol, which now has legislators looking for other ways to cut the budget and not do good things like purchasing green space by the state, laying off employees in the university system, and cuts to TANF. It was basically finding $400 million in other ways to cut rather than tax cigarettes. It is so interesting how we think.

Across the page, teenagers consume alcohol, a short article on underage drinking, and how teenagers consume 25% of alcohol, and interestingly, alcohol tax and cigarette tax were both indirectly conceived as a means of cutting down teen consumption. It has been a few years since the state flag issue, and it got an eighth of a page and several letters to the editor, including a letter from a man in Griffin, Georgia, quoting Gandhi. 

“Any country would prefer its own despot over a foreign-controlled system, no matter how benevolent that government might be,” Mahatma Gandhi.

This letter was about our taking over Iraq, and the Gandhi quote was in reference to Britain’s takeover of India so many years ago. Now I recall why I saved these pages nearly eighteen years ago. There was also an interesting letter concerning France. “France might be the voice of reason”. Another headline read to the effect, “US States IRAQ compliance not the issue, we will go to war, it is only a matter of when”. I am rambling, looking for red-tailed hawks and reading eighteen-year-old AJC editorials all in one sitting, and still only three quotes for today.

I am concerned, are we rational as we wake each morning and go about our days? We have been watching a war unfold and now refold, which is, for most of us, simply on the news, although numerous deaths have been hitting home daily. Even though many of us know friends and family who are indirectly involved in ICE raids and National Guard mobilizations, it still feels like somewhere else. Several days ago, as I looked for a red-tailed hawk and was frustrated because no matter how hard I looked, I could not find one, my son would see one and say, “Dad, a hawk,” and I would miss it. The hawks were there, but for some reason I did not see them; I did not turn quickly enough, or maybe they flew by and were gone. It was not until I stopped forcing the issue that the hawk appeared. We can set lofty goals and seek to fulfill them, but so many times we miss the accomplishments along the way.

Going back to that old newspaper, there was Rose Kennedy’s quote about the moments versus the milestones.  A few days ago, I used a phrase from a former professor at Eastern College, Dr. Tony Campolo: “CARPE DIEM.” It is the title of one of his books and is Latin for “seize the day.” I was skeptical about using a quote with a religious twinge, but C. S. Lewis is not a typical theologian, so I may borrow a quote from Mr. Lewis.

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” C.S. Lewis 

It is about the moment right now: seize the day, put aside the milestones, and seize the moment as I reread Lewis’s quote each time with a different view or understanding. Perhaps as I was looking for a hawk, I missed the point until I stopped looking and, in his words, found the answer. Each day is a chance again to start anew, fresh as if we can begin again and ponder, think, or seize the day, repeatedly. So, for today, CARPE DIEM, and as always, please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts, and please always give thanks namaste.

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

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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