Each morning, as I walk to the fitness center down the beautiful concrete walkway that lines the boarder of my human habitat, the open ponds invite the feathered fowl to relax by the waters edge. I am touched by the simplicity in that moment. I wonder how lovely it must be to be a duck. To wake up each day, no plans, no deadlines, just the sunshine, water, and your
friends and family.
As I continue walking the path of my mornings, a crane is perched on a raft in the far end of the pond that contains the sparkling fountain. I couldn't say for how long he lay claim to this territory, but each morning I know that he and I will meet there at the same time and in the same place. And on my way back home, he is still just sitting there- still, quiet, and in the moment.
Often times I join him from the other end of the pond, sitting and staring at him from under a small tree, planted, in an attempt to receive his offerings of wisdom. “Appreciation,” he says proudly, “in a delightful space to call my own…” Like the Mona Lisa, he appears to harbor secrets and knowledge of things that are quite possibly so simple. I plead with him to help me understand, but he just smiles and spreads his wings, letting the air whirl through his feathers. And in that moment, I understand.
There is no spoken language between species but I feel that there is a connection in coexisting, expressed out of love and respect. Appreciation for all that you have, not in what you seek to have, but respecting each other’s space and the right to exist. This planet is the only one that we know of that grants us the privilege to breathe its air and play in its water. In a world of over
complicated things, days spent competing with each other for power,
fueled by greed and hate, how do we get back to the simple answer to everyone’s question: How to be happy? Ask Mr. Crane and he will tell you. “The answer is simple of course…. Be happy.”
It’s not terribly complicated, but we make it so with the “buts” and the “what if’s. There is always something that we want, need, or dwell on. With all the constant pressures in life, how do we maintain tranquility? “And that” he says, “is your lesson.”
Nicole Shank recently moved from Derry, N.H. to Miami, FL.
From Miami:
Fowl Lessons
by Nicole Shank