The Beautiful (and brutal) Month of May
All over the skies, outside my window, I see the battles
going on, more and more of them. It’s when “eat or be eaten” comes right in
your face. And that “bird action” out there, is about life or death. Ravens
against eagles, ravens and crows against magpies, magpies against whomever they
go after (they can’t help themselves, remember? Just like the cuckoo, etc.
They’re wired that way by nature herself!).
Plus, everyone alive ‘n little, clawed or on foot, has to be
worried about the resident Redtail hawk, his wife, and his two children, every
year. They rule this part of the edge of the San Luis Valley, where I live.
I’ve mentioned them before.
Anyway, I have a hard time, each spring in particular,
because there is this duplicity, in what I see going on. First, we have the
beauty of courtship dances, fancy-colored feathers beating in the air. Followed
by: “yeah! Let’s build a nest, together!”
That’s the fun part. Now, it’s all: “Let’s get their eggs!
Let’s get their babies! Let’s get THEM!”
🙁
There was over 30 continuous minutes of serious fighting,
between the raven family (5 members present) and a magpie couple. They all know
each other because they do this each May. They live very close to each other
and, once the “breeding and growing up some,” parts are over, they all go back
to living as neighbors in the same three (or 4?) huge Elms, on the piece of
land right across my south fence. For the rest of the year, I don’t see them trying
to go at each other much. Because it is known by all, in my surroundings, that
“Harry Redtail Hawk Bird” is the man! 😉
Another horrible thing our forest babies have to deal with
and die of, horribly, are the repeated fires, bigger and deadlier each year. I
see burning nests, in my mind, with babies, not yet able to fly… like all those
people in burning skyscrapers, who couldn’t fly either. And most of those bad
fires I can remember, around here, they started in May…
In my (weird) mind, the fact that the miracle of new,
perfectly crafted (by “Madame Nature”), sweet, innocent life, within a couple
of weeks, finds itself blindly thrown into bloody “mayhem and murder,” has been
disturbing me a lot, ever since the age of 5-6, when I was first introduced to
how nature is, by my grandfather. I loved nature, in all its forms and
materials, but I don’t like the killing. Not then, not now and not at all! The
great enigma of my life (since the age of 6), has been the question: “Why was I
equipped with what’s necessary, in my brain (mind), to be bothered to no end by
this situation? If by nature, everything is as it should be, why am I even ABLE
to question it?!” That’s my dilemma. I can’t help it. My heart tells me that it
could be so much more peaceful if we “All” could stop killing each other. No
more pigs, terrified of what they know is coming, being literally “scared to
death.”
For Ham’s sake…!?
I could go on but won’t.
It “could” be an amazingly different world. I’m sure of
that. Just look at some of the “Great Vegetarians” of all times. The
Brontosaurus, for example, the Buffalo, or the powerful Gorilla, gentle unless
provoked, sharing 98% of our DNA, Whales and many more. 😊
So, if this is how it, absolutely and till the end of time,
has to be for it to function, then why was I equipped to grasp it as a concept,
understand it, yet feel compelled to live at odds with it, since about 60
years?? Just sayin’ …
PS: In a world where most fish don't have wings, and birds
don't breathe underwater for hours, what's the point of giving me a tool that I’m
not supposed to use?
"Cauz'” things r
supposed 2 go on the way they r?!!?
Tradition, 'n all dat...!?)
😕
The End
FYI:
The photograph came to me via Alex Ngabirano in Uganda,
Protector of Gorillas, and People, and their Children.
Depicted is the late 'Kanyoni', who died in battle. I weep
for him. I consider him a great loss...
Yet, I'm thrilled to see his noble face, and it makes me
wonder whether he just wasn't enough of a "Killer," for this cruel
world?
Seeing as that's still requirement number one.
It fills me with sadness... ❤
Corinne Wesley 5/21/2023
