Every so often, I hear a student calling out like a crow. I leave my classroom. Frederick Buechner tells his story in his books. He believes it leads to healing. I agree.
Back when I was a bit of a punk, I watched birds. One thing it has told me about myself is that I am a visual learner. Maybe I have an auditory memory issue, but I just have had a terrible time associating calls with birds. There are exceptions.
There is a call which crows make when they encounter a hawk. Other crows come and together they do the best to make the hawks life miserable. as I explained to one of my zoology students...
OK, if a friend of yours was being threatened and they sent out a text message to the masses that led to you and others to come flocking. You would be behaving like a crow. This afternoon, when you go into homeroom, if your teacher makes a loud caw caw caw noise, and I come over to see how I can help. You will deserve an A in this class.
every so often, I am called by my student to visit the classroom. I think it may amuse him to have such power over me. However, I know it is not an emergency. The tone is not of distress. Our brain is wired to associate pitches with meanings. That is how we communicate with others and with dogs. A whine is clearly not a growl.
What I heard the other night as a family screamed in horror is a tone that haunts me. What I heard yesterday heals me.
The man, who once helped me to fix a flat tire, and his wife had come to check on their house. It turns out the couple with little girls are still their neighbors, but now in the hotel rooms supplied by the Red Cross.
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With no intent to ignore what your neighbors are going through, I give you a story. Went hunting with a friend once who took his beagle, a pup that did nothing but tangle himself under our feet that day. Mid day, with no luck finding any rabbits, we stopped for him to smoke a cigarette, some crows flew overhead, and he insisted on playing a tap he had that would supposedly draw the craws in for him to shoot. The tape produced a sound much like a baby wailing, an animal in pain perhaps. The pup went spastic, however, and tore his recorder to shreds.......
ReplyDeleteJim--- the gift of a story is wonderful, and this will be told to my zoology students. thanks
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