I woke up this morning in time to hear the last bit of Krista Tippett's interview with ornithologist and professor of wildlife ecology, Drew Lanham. I want to share part of it with you. The whole interview is here.
Well, I do think that joy, in part, is the justice we give ourselves. And for me, the songs of birds are important; they signal the beginning of the day and the end of it, and what birds are doing in their lives and carrying on. But I think joy must be something — you try to have joy as something that no one can take from you; that it’s something that you can hoard and you can hold in your heart, in a way, and you can protect that joy in a way that, when all of those things on this rough-trod trail around you are threatening you, that you at some quiet moment can pull that joy out and experience it, and even if it’s just for a moment.
That’s the bird flying through the yard. That’s the cardinal. That’s the song. That’s the memory of something good that you say, you know what?
For me, I have to find those moments daily. And again, it’s a struggle, sometimes; it’s a struggle sometimes to endure all of this stuff and to say, “Ah, there it is.” As you said, that bird: “Look at that!” Look at that. And I’ve had those days where it’s just, nothing is going right, and then it seems like there’s more coming that’s gonna go wrong. But in that moment of that little brown bird that’s always so inquisitive, that sings reliably — in that moment that I’m thinking about that wren, I’m not thinking about anything else. That’s joy. And so, sometimes, I think we have to recognize the joy that the world didn’t give us and that the world can’t take away, in the midst of the world taking away what it can.
. . .
As much as I ran from my grandmother’s first Sunday God, I worship every bird that I see. And wildness is a wayward weed, but it’s also worthy of adoration and worship. So each time I see in those things that are flying or that are wild and free, I see a bit of me in that. And then that whole creation story my grandmother used to tell me about, I become a part of that, and I get to evolve through it. So my grandmother [laughs] never mentioned that word, “evolve,” but part of what she taught me gave me the strength to do it.
Which reminds me. I need to get some more bird seed for the feeder. Yesterday there was a blue jay taking advantage of it among the sparrows. Haven't seen the cardinals. Don't tell anyone, but they're my favorites. Along with the buntings.
