Bird Droppings September 7, 2026
Just an observation, or am I seeing something totally different than you 

“I am that I am”. I read that somewhere many years ago, a simple definition of someone. As I look at its simplicity, are we not all who we are? I grew up in a middle-class family, first in Pennsylvania and now in Georgia. In the old days, I would often take to the woods for many days, wandering trails through the North Georgia Mountains. I still see many of the places I went to then; I see them regularly in Rabun County. In my younger days, I learned about animals and plants. My affinity for nature grew. I no longer look for the great picture, but for the interconnections between plants and animals. I see things I never knew existed when I was younger.

On a recent morning, I walked out, and a possum greeted me as I went to the car. On any other day, it would be no big deal, but that day, with the power out at our house due to a blown transformer, it was an interesting start to the morning. Within minutes, a large buck locked eyes with me, and so the day went. Daily, I have interactions that I tend to call synchronistic with nature.

“I do not write from mythology when I reflect upon Native American spirituality in this book. In my opinion, mythology leads to superstition, and superstition has proved fatal to many millions over the years. It is ironic, then, that Dominant Society accuses Native practices of being based on myth.” Ed McGaa, Eagle Man

Annually, my wanderings grow more serious during the days I’m alone while my wife is out of town, thinking and observing humanity. She heads on her annual girls’ trip next week. Just a few nights ago, my son and I heard a choir of coyotes outside, just a few yards away, deep in the pines. It was literally an opera of coyotes’ howls and yells. For only a few minutes, the sounds were an eerie reminder that even in a civilized world, nature was only a few feet away in its wildest form. I was walking Sunday morning, away from my quiet spot near my home in Between Georgia, in a small town in middle Georgia, sitting on the porch of an old mill house. The quiet was overpowering, along with the gentle breeze and sunshine. Around me, birds would occasionally fly into and out of the trees, but most of the time without a sound. I was essentially alone, sitting and listening while everyone else was inside. Only a few hours earlier, I had a wonderful experience watching from my own house as the sun came up and started this book, Nature’s Way.

Ed McGaa is a Lakota Sioux and an attorney by education. He chooses his words wisely and doesn’t simply offer a book to fill shelf space. He points to observations as a basis for our spiritual views rather than heresy or simply taking another’s word for it. This past weekend, as we drove home from a quick trip to see my son, his wife, and our grandbabies, we noticed nearly fifty red-tailed hawks sitting on the wires, watching as we drove by. If you have ever seen a hawk hunting, observation is key. They watch every detail as they look for a food item crawling or scurrying along the ground.

“Clearly, we are meant to think, analyze, and deliberate. And yet humans seem to have some fear (or is it plain ignorance?) of exercising the simple freedom to think. Why are we so prone to let others do our thinking for us – to lead astray and control us?” Ed McGaa, Eagle Man

A little over two years ago, we went through one of the most biased and perhaps most sheep-led-to-slaughter election campaigns I have ever experienced in my life. Negative ads made up the vast majority on both sides. Issues were simply things to be dealt with after the election, and even then, that was questionable. Here in Atlanta, several mega churches are going through serious upheavals, with pastors who, after years of preaching and blasting various human characteristics and issues, are coming out themselves and, in turn, being who they preached against for 20 years and built empires against. One of the themes I have seen in politics and religion so blatantly in the past year is the “letting others do our thinking for us”. A few years back, I received a copy of a book in the mail from a friend in New York after he published it. I had known the title for months, but when I saw it and began my initial reading, it hit me. “Hustlers and the idiot swarm”- how appropriate is that to our society today?

Opening Reverend Manny’s book and turning to the first page, I found a quote that I thought permeated our society, even unknowingly.

“For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all experts’ liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, Ch. X

Within a day or two of first setting foot in Washington, a newly elected Congressman who ran on a platform to repeal the newly enacted Health Care bill was upset that his government health care insurance did not start immediately. He had to wait twenty-eight days, and he made a scene in his first official meeting. Over the past year, lies about the health care bill made headlines more than points that mattered to many families. I grew up in a family with a severely disabled brother who would never have been insurable under most standard insurance due to preexisting conditions. Even more significantly, my son was still in nursing school and over twenty-five but was covered under the new health care law on my insurance. If not for that, I’m not sure where we would be after his accident in May of 2014, with over three hundred fifty thousand dollars in medical bills that were covered.

I really did not want to get into politics, since reality is not an issue there, sadly. I started thinking a few days ago about how we find our own center and understanding of the world around us. I have been saddened as I read former students’ interpretations of events and understandings of their own belief systems.

“The Sioux believe that lies, deceit, greed, and harm to innocent others will never be erased, and neither will good deeds of generosity and caring. Dominant society, on the other hand, leans towards the “forgiveness” theory, which claims that bad deeds can be purged.” Ed McGaa, Eagle Man, Nature’s Way

As I started getting into this idea of each of us formulating and ratifying our own understanding of all that is about us, it became clear that this will be more than a quick note. I walked out of the house earlier and had R. Carlos Nakai on my earphones, and it was rather loud. The CD is by Nakai, who is a seven-note cedar flute master, playing with a symphony of his various melodies, and it was almost haunting, like the visage of a clear sky and quiet surroundings, the trees. I had to stop listening to the music and see this quiet, still image before me. The two interplayed as I got ready to leave the house. To close this quickly, bird-dropping and getting on with the day, I remind everyone to please keep all in harm’s way on their minds and in their hearts, and always to give thanks. Namaste.

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

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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