Bird Droppings February 2, 2026
Children are being taught as they walk through life.

It is a beautiful winter day outside, and quiet after a crazy couple of days of severe weather. It seems the solitude of the country has changed rapidly over the past year. A developer bought our subdivision and has built 30 more houses. People moved into what was once a tree-filled country nook. Outside, it is cold, and the weatherperson said it might reach 45 degrees in the afternoon. So, it is not a bad day.  Occasionally, I write a thought for myself; today is one of those.

Standing outside earlier, there were a few sounds in the surrounding area. The neighbors, for the most part, are quiet, and the tree frogs are still a bit too cold to venture out. The trees no longer muffle the human noise around me. I heard almost nothing as I stood, even in the background, not even crickets or breeze in the trees. The moon was nearly full, and O took a few selfies with it. Every morning, I pass by a billboard and want to write about it. It is bold and artistically done for everyone to see, Peace, Paz, Shalom, courtesy of the Rotary Club, sort of strange for these parts.

“Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance.” Will Durant

Several years ago, I found this short story on a website. I have used it several times in meetings and my daily wanderings. I want to share a story from many years ago today, entitled “Our Nature,” from Zen Thought and Writings.

“Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process, he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl, and the scorpion fell in again. The monk saved the scorpion, only to be stung again. The other monk asked him, ‘Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know its nature is to sting?’ ‘Because,’ the monk replied, ‘to save it is my nature.’” From the website of Dr. John Suler, Rider University

As I look at this story, there are many reactions to the monk’s response. How foolish is the monk who gets stung? He knows it is a scorpion. He knows scorpions will sting, and he has been stung once. What lesson, some have said over the years, is being taught in this passage? Is it stupidity? There is also a similar story that Dr. Suler uses from Native American lore about a fox and a scorpion crossing a stream. My concern is that there are applications to parenting, friendship, and teaching within the context of a stinging scorpion. As I read this morning, looking through various articles by Dr. Suler and another writer I enjoy immensely, Sydney J. Harris, this is a piece from his daily column, Strictly Speaking, which was syndicated during his lifetime in over 300 papers. This caught my eye.

“The student, who could get an A if he wanted to, cannot get an A because he doesn’t want to. And the wanting to is an essential part of the achieving, not a separate thing, as parents imagine, that can be injected into him like a shot of adrenaline. All genuine, meaningful, and lasting motivation comes from the inside, not from the outside. The carrot and the stick work, maybe only as long as the carrot is in front and the stick behind. When they are withdrawn, the motivation ceases. You can get a mule to move this way, but not a person for very long.” Sydney J. Harris, Motivation, a key part of Talent.

I recall a day in class listening to students tell why they have low grades several interesting answers, “but I am passing, I have a 70” or “what do I need this crap for anyhow”. As I listened and looked through notes and ideas on how to instill the idea of motivation in a child or student? I found most of the students yesterday, when I talked about the monk getting stung, would say he was stupid, just step on the scorpion, why waste your time. Occasionally, a person will pop up and say, “The scorpion has a right to live too, and that is why the monk helped it”.

Somewhere, when I first started working with children back in the dark ages, 1972 or so, I found a poster, “Children Learn what they Live” which was written by Dr. Dorothy Nolte Ph.D., it goes as follows:

Children Learn What They Live
By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith.
In themselves and those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn.
The world is a nice place in which to live.
Copyright © 1972 by Dorothy Law Nolte

Sydney Harris couldn’t put a finger on motivation, as he mentions in his article, saying that parents want it to be like adrenaline, and we could give a shot of motivation. The monk’s kindness to the scorpion is an attribute learned by observation, by seeing, and by example. I believe motivation comes from within, as Harris states, and as Dr. Nolte eloquently points out in 20 or so statements. It is what children see and feel as they grow that provides them with that inner drive that inner spark. Children do learn what they live, and as parents and teachers, we are modeling their future. We are what they will be and can be.

“If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and others.” Dr. Nolte

It is not that difficult when we look at kids? How can we expect a child to be motivated to succeed if we take away any of the twenty or so possibilities presented in Dr. Nolte’s chart? No matter how big the carrot dangled, it must come from within, and eventually, we as teachers, parents, and friends need to be providing that support and effort. So, it is another spring day, and a plea to keep all in harm’s way in your hearts and on your mind namaste.

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