Bird Droppings January 13, 2026
Wind in the trees can be peaceful or bring fear.

I was sitting at my computer, thinking back to three years ago, when several storms had come through the area. Just before I went to bed, according to the weather, we would get another storm during the night. My granddaughter was staying with us, and during the night, she was frightened by the wind and came into our room to lie down with us. Several times that night, I awakened to a storm blowing. Pat woke up several times with thunder and lightning throughout the night. At one point, a tornado warning came across our phones, asking us to take shelter. One did touch down nearby and in the next county over, doing significant damage. My wife Pat grew up in Warner Robins, the epicenter of tornadoes in Georgia, and she doesn’t like storms.

When my son’s dog was with us, no one else ever heard him, but I would get up and let him run about, checking out the backyard, running whenever he felt like going. When it is just windy, he will search diligently. When storms came through, he would keep me awake all night, barking and going out to bark at the storm. I recall a night I was seriously thinking about duct tape to silence the dog, and finally, there was no storm, just a steady wind blowing through the trees all through the night. I went out and listened. While a bit chilly, the wind still makes an eerie sound as it goes through the tops of the pine trees.

In the old days, I would walk outside at school and watch clouds pass by. The sky has been clear lately, and blue and substantial white clouds pass by in a never-ending procession. The pines just past our house often sway in the steady wind and are almost hypnotic. I was reviewing reports I had to do for the two new courses I am taking and found a bookmark on my desk that my wife had given me several years ago. Several quotes from Chief Joseph and an artist rendition of the great Nez Perce leader are on the bookmark.

“I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk.” Chief Joseph

I thought about our current and past leaders to whom these words were addressed. Yesterday, a Senator accused several major companies of making over 100 billion dollars in excess profit off the American public over the past few years, amounting to over $100 per person per year. Of course, the company’s attitude has been good; they are willing to pay, so why not make a profit for our stockholders? Their other point has been that several significant companies paid little or no taxes. It seems the double talk is about to end, at least, hopefully. This morning, I filled up my wife’s car with gas and visited my second-favorite store, Quick Trip. The price of gas is going down, then up, changing almost daily. There are no lines, screaming, or hollering, but Exxon’s CEO is smiling as plans to pump money into the oil industry are being made. We have become used to low-priced gas. We have become used to it being low due to a price war between countries. We are producing more gas and oil than ever before in this country, and still, it is a shell game on the American people by big business and our government. Capitalism rocks if you are a multi-billionaire oil or gas baron.

For many years, the Native Americans, as I look back at Chief Joseph’s words, but we average Americans from Europe, Africa, and Asia have been duped by our leaders and businesses because we have been willing to settle for what is offered. I watch education as federal laws supposedly to improve education stifle education, but profit corporations. A small example is a new math curriculum that lasted about three years and caused significant headaches for schools and students in Georgia. However, book companies reaped a small fortune. Georgia is still struggling with math, and, amazingly enough, instead of remedying the situation, they make the math curriculum harder. The logic befuddles me. If our children have difficulty with math, why make it harder? If I were in the industry and had a problem, I would identify the cause and apply risk management. Put treat, tolerate, transfer, or terminate the problem. In education, we have a more straightforward solution. We compound the problem.

“If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect him to grow fat…?” Chief Joseph

Under federal and state mandates, schools failing to meet standards are criticized. Some states are suing in federal court over the law. This law or that law has created a paradox, leaving children behind and demanding that schools lack the resources to back up the programs and laws. We have issues with how children are being taught, yet we evaluate not what they have learned but what they know when they take a test. Sadly, the scores being used are not valid indicators of learning.

As Chief Joseph surrendered to a superior force outnumbered and outmanned, he made his mark on history through his words.

“It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are starving. Some of my people have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food, nowhere to go; they are perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find some of them among the dead. Hear me, oh chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more.” Chief Joseph

After his pleas for asylum in Canada went unattended, he stopped fleeing the approaching army, and the Nez–Perce had been defeated. They had outmaneuvered and outrun a superior force for months, but their supplies were low, morale was low, and winter was coming. A proud man laid down his rifle. As I think back and even look at today, I wonder how we deal with people so seldom that we can accept anyone as an equal. So seldom can we try to live in peace without making demands. Why do those in power have to flex their muscles and have what is not theirs to have? So often, we interfere in other countries. We interfere with our own citizens’ rights and privacy. Power is such an addictive thing. Power is a simple word and a simple thought. I wonder why we so often abuse it. Please keep all in harm’s way in your hearts and on your minds, and always give thanks, namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,
Mitakuye Oyasin
(We are all related)
docbird