Sometimes I wonder what is on my mind.

Bird Droppings August 13, 2026
Sometimes I wonder what is on my mind.

Where do I start? I went out to a beautiful sky, and eleven deer crossed my path; one stood and posed. We chatted for a minute, or I should say I chatted to a deer standing, watching me for three or four minutes. The sky continued to become more and more glorious as I drove, taking pictures and seeing deer. As the sun came up, I was looking across the lake, and on the heron rock, as we call it, a blue heron traditionally stands on it most mornings; today it is a Canada goose.

I started thinking back thirty-eight years, or so, Pat was with child with our third one. A few weeks to go and we would be at the hospital wondering if she was in labor. The doctor finally said she would probably go home, but to check her in just to be safe. I went downstairs and signed her in and got called to the delivery area. Twenty-nine minutes later, my youngest son was born. Things happened so fast I was only in scrub pants, no shirt, and barefoot. Now that little, tiny well, little may be an understatement- he is now a strapping six-plus and critical care ICU nurse in an Athens hospital. He is a father of three beautiful kiddos. About thirteen years ago, as I recall, I took my granddaughter on an adventure photographing a high school volleyball game. Charlie was ready; she could yell “Go Red Devils” with the best of them. Although while we were at my old school, she had more fun in the hallways running on our shiny floors and playing in my room than in the loud gym watching volleyball.

I recall again several years ago, near our house, perhaps two hundred yards across the street in front of us, a building was going up. Out in the countryside of Walton County, where once moon shining was the leading revenue generator, a Hindu Temple was going up. After the major structure was completed, the congregation did all the work. Each day, dozens of men and women were tediously building their place of worship. Interestingly enough, this group is a group that migrated from India when the British took over many years ago and moved to Jamaica. In my time, I have seen many buildings of worship go up: some gaudy and ostentatious, others simple wooden-frame, one-room buildings with enough space for only a handful of worshippers. In my readings, I found this quote that has stuck with me for some time.

“The purpose of all the major religious traditions is not to construct big temples on the outside, but to create temples of goodness and compassion inside, in our hearts.” The Dalai Lama, “The Good Heart”

More often than not, the temple or church within a community historically was a focal point; it was the largest structure and always the most prominent. Grand cathedrals were built during the Dark Ages. Huge temples were built in Asia and in the Middle East, where numerous cultures had areas of worship that were considered wonders of the world. In the New World, mound builders built elaborate mounds in the shape of snakes and birds in South Georgia. The Ocmulgee Mounds rise above all around, and you can see them throughout central Georgia. In South America, great stone temples and structures were built to honor gods and goddesses. Seemingly, each sought to outdo the others, not even knowing they existed.

As I read this quote from the Dalai Lama, religion was not what I was really thinking of. I was thinking of how a few years back I helped our high school band work a concession window at what some consider a great place of worship at the University of Georgia Sanford Stadium. Before the Georgia football game, the high school students are warned about drunks and obnoxious fans. I was thinking about the few who came to the concession windows and would swear and argue about pricing that we, as band volunteers, had nothing to do with, and all through the stadium the pricing is the same.

I was thinking about the vast quantities of trash left in the stadium and around the campus, which only moments before was pristine as we arrived. It was trashed when we left. Many of these fans will be sitting in big churches on another day in their Sunday best. We can rationalize that fans will be fans, and they were letting off steam. I was thinking about the example set for a group of teenagers of what being an adult is all about. Is it about getting drunk, driving a big motor home and tail gating and trying to hand beers to kids on buses as they drive by? Is it about pulling up shirts and baring breasts and perhaps not even remembering you did that the next day? Is it about going to a really big church on your day of worship?

I wonder as I sit here this morning if anyone ever read this quote before or ever even tried to listen to it. As I look back through history to the guys who started most of the major religions, their philosophies are similar to what the Dalai Lama states. Something in human nature about impressing others: the biggest car, the biggest truck if you live in the South, the biggest diamond for a woman so you can impress everyone on the outside. Maybe it is so you don’t have to impress anyone with your inside. I listened to some of the political jargon and rhetoric from the previous week. It’s ok to flaunt your wealth, and it’s ok to be wealthy. It’s ok that we have poor people. It’s ok somewhere loses their reality, as I have been on back dirt roads of old Macon, Georgia, in the United States of America, dropping off special needs kids in one-room homes where three families live. The bathroom is a five-gallon bucket with a toilet seat on top. That’s not ok I am sorry.

Many of the folks left that football game, and it is always like that. But it was my first in many years, and my first helping with concessions. I remember many years ago when I was coaching 10- to 12-year-old basketball in Macon, Georgia, for the recreation department. I had a group of nine kids, and their favorite gym to play in was one where the parents had to look through the windows and couldn’t distract the kids from the game. The kids could enjoy themselves while they played. Recently, I watched a video, and I shared words from the song “If No One Believed in You.” Interesting concept, yet as we go through life, I see more and more of this.

We need to seriously do some introspection and look at who we are. Are we building great temples of stone or building them in our hearts? Do we need to be setting the example for children, not tearing down that image they have? Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts, and always give thanks. Namaste.

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

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

docbird