We
take up where we left off in Episode 35 with Milvus, the black kite. He was
brought to our attention by Caesar, the iguana. He mumbled, "If they
would just feel the monkey and reach up and pet the monkey." Caesar was
referring to a poem that had blown into the cave, so I will display the poem
here…
Found a
monkey on my back
Tugged the monkey
into my lap.
Can I befriend the monkey?
If I pet him in my lap
Found the monkey on my back
gently petted him on my lap
Why do I love the monkey in my lap?
What a sap; what a loving sap
Tugged the monkey
into my lap.
Can I befriend the monkey?
If I pet him in my lap
Found the monkey on my back
gently petted him on my lap
Why do I love the monkey in my lap?
What a sap; what a loving sap
Hummy's
heart rate jumped precariously and he spoke in a deep throated voice, "I
know that we have to help humans, but I have a monkey on my backhave to
attend to. The monkey is my dark side, my shadow self, and my evil twin Skippy.
My hummingbird ancestors fought their way here through countless generations.
My heart and soul tell me that the fight was not always fair. In my brief
lifetime, I have thrown a few weak chicks out of the nest with the notion that
I was justified because I loved the stronger chicks more. The monkey on my
back was seeing that poor little guy fall to the ground. I took away his chance
at life. Skippy emerged as my dark side.”
Myrtle,
the turtle poked her head up and confessed, “I lay a hundred plus eggs and hope
that the little ones make it into the ocean, but I know that many never reach
the first wave. My shadow self covers that memory up.”
Ducky
quacked, “So my dark side covers up my guilt; I have watched as some of my
little ones perished because they failed to keep up. I have tucked away those
memories deep in my feathers.”
Mary,
the white pelican, looked around the group and felt more deep pain than she
could ever remember. She thought; Before heading back to Hudson Bay I
knew that one of my chicks had killed his brother chick while I was away from
the nest foraging.
Though
siblicide[2] is
not rare among birds, Mary was only vaguely aware of it happening among her
flock. She was becoming aware of her shadow self. Accepting the dark side
brought forth both humility and a great sadness.
Then
Mary crocked with an eloquence that could have only passed through Mom Nature
herself, ”We all have a dark side which we hide not only from each other but
hide from ourselves as well. If we embrace our shadow self, we are given a
measure of grace that eases the pain of dreadful competition and the agony of failing
to be perfect within our species.
Hooie spoke, “Humans call
it abortion. They are in conflict with each other about the right to have an
abortion. But they do have an abortion out of convenience. It is not clear
whether it is advancing the improvement of the species.
Jake, the basset hound barked out,
“This is getting far too complicated for me. If we all got here through process
of evolution a price had to be paid. Some of our offspring were sacrificed. The
souls of those embryos, those puppies and other fledglings from around this
cave I can only hope to know they were sacrificed for the betterment of
all.
I kept
focusing on the word betterment today. What is betterment anyway? I am thinking
about a Town called Sobriety and how far it is to the town of Serenity. Even
though I see a lot of shortcuts on the way I keep seeing signs that say 10,000
hours to Serenity and 10,000 miles to Serenity. I can now see Serenity in the
distance.
Suggested
listening: Johannsson Essentials, Apple Music
[1] Gary Trudeau created
Evil twin Skippy because George Bush senior was so good that both Liberals and
Conservatives hated him. So, George senior was portrayed as having a dark side,
Skippy. George could not be that good and also human.
