Let it be said that I am a perennial student, always learning and willing to learn. My teachers come from strange places in terms of their own existence and I love the weirdness of it all.
Today I found peace. Imagine that, in today’s turmoil of uncertainty, I found peace – unequivocally, without doubt. I found it in Peace Valley Park: how appropriate. This glorious area of Bucks County has long been of solace to me. When life has presented challenges to which there seemed to be no sense whatsoever, a quick sojourn in Peace Valley Park created calm and clarity.
Over the years, we have visited with children, then grandchildren, to walk, to run, to splash in the summer water. Today, years later, we sit in the car and watch. We both recall driving to the shore and wondering why people sat in their cars to look at the ocean, rather than getting out for a stroll. Now we know! Today was extra specially resonant. . For some reason everything I love and admire was present. People with their dogs. A young man with two dogs both of whom obviously adored him enough to be without a leash came running up the hill toward the truck, jumping around him. He played and teased with them, they loving it. Yes, there is hope. Into the cabin of his truck they leapt, kissing him, tussling – it was joyful to behold. I am sure he hadn’t a clue he was under observation and I would like to thank him for the pleasure we received from the three of them. I read that the only true unconditional love is that of a dog to its owner. (We have a rescued cats – they don’t do ‘ownership’).
A smashing bright red truck then arrived with a quite large man and a tiny little Yorkie. Another love story. This dog was smaller than our Bella who weighed about six and a half pounds up to her death in January 2008. When they walked, its tiny legs went a mile a minute to keep up. Needless to say on their return, it was snuggling held in the loving arms of this man. Looked very cosy. It is joyful to behold that magnificent spiritual connection between human and animal. In addition to all this serenity, there was music which reached into the human condition with an emotional salve.
We took a picnic lunch and sat in the car for hours, far longer than usual for good reason. The awesome sight of Canada Geese. This is not a treatise on how many species, what a nuisance they can be, scientific studies but simply an essay of sorts on why a perfectly intelligent woman becomes a road hazard if a flow of these lovelies take off within her sight range. They are my teachers. There were a few floating in the water when we arrived and then slowly the numbers increased. I do not know enough about these incredible birds except I wish people with their abilities and ethics ran the country! What I do know is they have a meeting place and wait until all are present. A formation arises following the established leader. When that leader is tired, automatically the next in line takes over – no election, no stoppage of services, no running out of funds, no establishing a task force, a new committee, another department – just does it. If one is ill or cannot keep up with the flock, two birds stay until either it has recovered or dies. No bird is ever left alone to suffer. No health insurance, not refusal of payment, no choosing between food and treatment…. “you have a friend indeed”. There is so much I want to know other than fundamentals. What is their schedule? How do they decide where to convene, where to fly, who takes charge? I admire naturalists such as Attenborough and the National Geographic Professionals who wait hours, days, months for something to happen in nature’s movements. As it is, we sit here for a short while and wait for the flight to begin. We aren’t in a hurry to get anywhere but the human condition dictates there must be somewhere we have to be, something we have to do. We stayed a long time – they didn’t move. The bright weather just keeps them there, contemplating I know not what. These creatures are simply breathtaking:
LIFE IS NOT MEASURED BY THE NUMBER OF BREATHS WE TAKE,
BUT BY THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE OUR BREATH AWAY.
I don’t know who wrote that – I got it from George Carlin. I think of these amazing creatures as they soar – what must it feel like to fly? Am I Icarus? The line from a song in the musical The Phantom of the Opera:
LET YOUR SOUL TAKE YOU WHEN YOU WANT TO BE.
So many messages of love, hope, peace, joy and achievement. The glory of powerful wings into the upper reaches of the earth’s atmosphere.
BE WHO YOU ARE
AND SAY WHAT YOU FEEL
BECAUSE THOSE THAT MATTER DON’T MIND
AND THOSE THAT MIND, DON’T MATTER.
Dr. Seuss
Dr. Yvonne Kaye
