When Clem and I were growing up, we lived in the Mississippi flyway, one of the great migration routes for waterfowl. Every spring swans, Canada geese, and snow and blue geese would fly overhead in great clouds. It is a precious memory that sustains me when I begin to slip over the edge and become too caught up in political and world drama.
I did not have a camera then, which was capable of capturing these images on film - only my boxy Brownie camera. Now thanks to the digital cameras of today, it is possible for me to capture some of the essence of these wild creatures, who seem all but oblivious to humans, awed by their flight northward into Canada.
 |
| Wintering Snows and Blues |
 |
| Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge New Mexico |
One of their wintering places is in central New Mexico. Smart snowbirds!
Today, Minnesota waits to see who their next governor will be. A county by county map of the state reflects the disparity of election results across the county. The margin in each county is 10-20% for either candidate, even though less than 1% separates them statewide. Either folks in each county clearly liked one candidate or the other.
Another "throw the bums out" election, the third such election in four years, awaits the pundits' attempts to understand what the results mean. While Senator John Boehner tries to discover a strategy to herd cats in a coalition labled Republican, but consisting of Tea Party-ers and the ever present Sarah Palin. While bombs worldwide explode and children die of treatable diseases and malnutrition.
My perspective? I have grandchildren in public schools and the university. My neighbor across the street was laid off and my heart aches for their frantic fears. Arts and music disappear from school curriculums, affecting children I know personally and those who would teach them. My middle-class peers grow poorer. Stores where I sometimes shop are filled with goods for which my friends and I have little need, prolonging a stalled economy while people examine their consumer lifestyles.
An older friend once related what she experienced when her 90-some year old mother died. She looked out the door four days after the funeral. The mailman was making his rounds as if nothing monumental had happened. She had to resist the urge to holler at him, "don't you know my beloved mother just died."
Then I remind myself of the great flocks of birds who are flying southward to wait until the snow season passes. Some will not survive the journey. But the great flocks will fly north again in the spring and hatch new chicks. Huge flocks will swirl across the skies and I will listen for the deafening sound of them calling to one another. Wheeling and turning as if the whole flock is one giant organism.
Lovely post.
ReplyDelete