I was playing with my grandson, and he floored me with a question.

Bird Droppings September 28, 2026


I was playing with my grandson, and he floored me with a question.

What does it take for that light bulb to go on? It has been nearly twenty years since my doctoral cohort at Georgia Southern ended, and we began the journey on our own. I recall that many years back we met for an advanced seminar, and one of the readings was Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, which, while not that many pages, was a major part of the discussion. I am always intrigued when pieces of my time in existence seem just for me. I found several ideas within the book were significant as I look back.

However, our professor ended the session by pointing inward and mentioned how he has pursued intellectualism. He said he has pursued reading and expanding his own knowledge, and he mentioned several times how great it is to be a professor: you get paid to read. I was thinking of elementary and high school students who we try to get to read, and many college students as well. So often, when you ask, “What is your favorite book?” the response is, “I do not read.” Instilling that passion for knowledge should be our task rather than just testing for specific pieces of information.

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” James Allen

I have been thinking on this passage for many days. I firmly believe that even as we plan and set goals and agendas, we are where we need to be at this moment. Is it as simple as traveling the pathways presented to us each day, thinking we have a choice and could actually be setting the direction? It has been a few years since I first looked at life as a journey. Since that first day, however, it has become a truly memorable one for me. Now I try to view each moment as it passes, keep up with my surroundings, and understand each piece of the puzzle as it falls into place. “Life is about the journey,” I have used many times in my writings.

“Thinking more than others about our own thoughts is not self-centeredness. It means that if asked what’s on our mind, we are less likely to mention being aware of the world around us, and more likely to mention our inner reflections. But we are less likely to mention thinking about other people.” Elaine N. Aron, Clinical Psychologist

I just took Dr. Aron’s quiz to see if I am an HSP (highly sensitive person), and it was rather interesting. I tend to argue about several issues within her test. I thrive on interactions and emotions, but the test seems to view that as a negative.

“You live with your thoughts — so be careful what they are.” Eva Arrington

“If everybody thought before they spoke, the silence would be deafening.” George Barzan

Each day, I spend a large portion of my time trying to help others think. A simple thought, yet rather difficult. Trying to encourage thought processes can be interesting, as one student told me many years ago, “Mr. Bird, why do we have to think? It hurts my brain.” Sadly, I hear that several times a day, even from parents and teachers.

“There are lots of people who cannot think seriously without injuring their minds.” John Jay Chapman

I used to keep a box of Band-Aids handy and have pulled them out occasionally for serious brain injury and surprise students with the offer when their brains hurt.

“No matter how hard you work for success, if your thought is saturated with the fear of failure, it will kill your efforts, neutralize your endeavors, and make success impossible.” Baudjuin

“A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.” Georges Bernanos

Thought processes are often bewildering. I was sitting here typing and thinking, and I went to type “Ge,” and was thinking and spelling, and got to “Geo” and couldn’t hit the “o” key; I wanted to hit “r,” but my thought process and fingers got caught. I was looking at “o” and wanted to type “r”; I actually paused for a second to rationalize.

“We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.” Buddha

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.” Buddha

It’s interesting to look at these two remarks from several thousand years ago. Today psychologists will say the same thing. I say the same thing without quoting Buddha every day. But so many people do not really think about where they are.

“Man is what he believes.” Anton Chekhov

It is so difficult to explain this to students, really, to anyone. Yet great coaches around the country have been proving this for years. My youngest son is an avid sports trivia fan, and while still not on par with the great trivia authority and good friend, history teacher, coach, and high school referee Jimmy Hughes, my son is pretty good. He will ask many times, “Who do I think is the greatest of all time NCAA coach?” Although usually the question is, “Dad, don’t you think Spurrier is the greatest of all time NCAA coach?” I like it when he leaves me an out; he didn’t mention a sport, and I can throw out John Wooden or Dan Gable or even more recent Paul Hewitt and really get him going. “Well what about Coach K then”, thinking though is the goal and that he does.

“The problem with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than their minds.” Walter Duranty
“It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.” Thomas A. Edison

I recall my middle son’s senior year. He was near the top in his class and always an excellent student. Because of scheduling, he couldn’t take the honors English course he wanted and had to take regular senior English with the rest of humanity. He had a slug sitting next to him who asked every day to copy his homework. My son got to where his responses were classic; one that stuck with me went something like this: “We all make mistakes, and in all honesty, I truly believe this is all correct. But what if I am wrong and I let you copy, and then you get a failing grade and your life is ruined? I can’t live with that. So no, I cannot allow you to copy. If you fail, I want it to be you who fails, not me helping you too.”

“Humans can shift perspective. We can experience the world through our senses. Or we can remove ourselves from our senses and experience the world even less directly. We can think about our life, rather than thinking in our life. We can think about what we think about our life, and we can think about what we think about that. We can shift perceptual positions many times over.” John J. Emerick

Each moment is unique and each uniquely different. As we are wandering the pathways of life, they can tire you. You might stop to sip a cup of water amidst the turmoil of the day and move on past the strife. Each day we have choices to make we have opportunity and we have disaster waiting. It is that light bulb going off, like in the old cartoons over our heads, that makes the difference.

Sitting in the sanctuary of my upstairs office and library in the darkness of morning, thinking and pondering, as I say, I came back to where all of this started—with a question from my six-year-old grandson.

Henry and I had gone upstairs to play. He said he had to go to the bathroom, and we crossed the hallway to the upstairs bathroom. On one wall, a shadow box held our Pawleys Island shells: olive, moon, conch, sea urchins, coral, and many more. Henry was drawn to a small horseshoe crab tail. His science teacher had talked to them about horseshoe crabs. Next, his eyes wandered to the sea urchin shells; he knew what they were. All this while, he was sitting on the toilet.

Then my brilliant grandson posed a question seemingly out of nowhere:

“Pop Pop, why did you steal hermit crab houses?”

What a rather philosophical question. I was taken aback and intrigued. Perhaps that was the light bulb I had been writing about all morning. So today, as my moments draw down and it becomes time for stage two of today, 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