One of my favorite memories of Grandma's home is the song of the house wren. She always had a nest box tacked to the clothesline pole, and each spring the house wrens would return, singing their delightful songs.
The first year I moved into my house a wren nested in the clay pot bird house I had made. I watched their comings and goings from my kitchen window, as I had hung the pot on the front porch directly in front of it. It was wonderfully healing, helping me feel close to my Grandma who had passed the year before.
I haven't seen any wrens at my house since then. Last year a chickadee family claimed the clay pot home and successfully fledged their young. I left the pot hanging over the winter without removing the old nest, thinking I would get around to it in the spring.
A couple of days ago I heard a wren. My heart was filled with joy! I ran out back where the pot was now hanging and quickly took it down so as to clean out the old nest. I disassembled the pot and took off the bottom tray, only to find a large Bumblebee buzzing out of the nest! I placed the nest on the ground as the disoriented Bumblebee flew around. My mind only on the wren, I took the bird house to the hose and cleaned it out spic and span. I quickly reassembled the clay pieces and hung it on the front porch. I waited.
The Bumblebee didn't leave. I watched as it flew around the back door, obviously searching for its home. She didn't give up. Finally, the Bumblebee flew closer to the ground and found her nest. She disappeared under the fluffy ball.
Shit.
I went to the front porch where I had hung the clay pot bird house, which was now a Bumblebee house. I took it down and walked back to the Bumblebee nest. Was she still there? She was not at all happy with what I had done, in fact she had me trapped in the garage for a good ten minutes. My nose pressed to the glass, I watched as she tried to get in to the garage through the clear window pane, obviously wanting to give me a taste of her mighty stinger. I couldn't blame her.
I cautiously approached the nest. No Bumblebee. I quickly put the nest back on the clay dish, inverted the pot to cover it, put a cork in the opening (just in case she was still there) and screwed the whole thing back together. As I walked into the backyard to rehang the pot from the patio roof behind the garage, I saw the Bumblebee flying around the spot where her nest used to be. I took a deep breath and spoke to her gently. "I am sorry Bumblebee. I did not know this was your nest. I have put it all back together so let me hang it back up and you can have you nice, cozy home back. Just hold on for a few seconds, OK? No stingy me, OK?" She backed up and let me hang her nest. As soon as it was up she flew inside. Home sweet home.
Later that day I was watching the news and saw a clip of Governor Chris Christy proudly smashing a Spider that had crawled onto a table in classroom he was visiting. The children cheered. Tears welled up in my eyes for that Spider, who was doing nothing more than walking through its home. Tears also formed for the children, whose hearts were already hardened to the sacredness of life - on that day the life of the smallest creature.
How can we be so different? It is no wonder we are killing this planet when we have taught our children to revel in the death of one so small.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The Illusion That We Live in A Democracy
I was in my 50s by the time I received my first notice of jury duty. Unlike most people I know, I was excited to experience it. When I arrived at the courthouse, I was seated in a room full of people. We watched a video on how wonderful it is to serve on a jury and waited to see who was called. I was amazed as I sat there, looking around at people of all colors and sizes. We were there as Americans about to perform a sacred civic duty - to sit in judgement of our peers. This felt like a heavy responsibility all of a sudden. My vote could send someone to jail, disrupt a family, break the heart of a mother, bring revenge to a father. I was experiencing the sensation of performing my civic duty and I was proud and honored to be a part of the process. I swallowed back a big lump in my throat. I almost broke out into song...."God Bless America...". Don't worry, I didn't. They also didn't select me as a juror.
While I have lived a life full of experiences that most have not gone through, I still retain a level of naivete. I still expect honesty and integrity in people. So when I decided to attend a Senate Committee hearing on an environmental bill, I was quite excited to once again see democracy in action. I took my seat and eagerly anticipated respectful dialogue and debate. I expected the Committee to be sincere in their solicitation of public comment. Did my bubble burst. The contents of the bill in question were never discussed. Ever. The Senator who introduce it employed a tactic of diversion, bringing up examples of the failings of the Michigan DNR and telling outright lies. I knew they were lies because I am a biologist and work in the programs he was describing. He told lies to his constituents, who believed him and supported his truly harmful and ridiculous bill. He would not discuss the contents of the bill in the hearing. Divert, divert, divert.
I attended the second hearing, hoping what I had observed in the first hearing was a fluke. It was not. This time the entire room was packed with people opposed to his bill. He told the audience he would hear all their testimony, then the Committee would take all the comments and deliberate for a week and then reintroduce the bill with amendments. At the end of the meeting, he promptly called a vote and passed the bill.
This is our Michigan legislature at work.
Today I attended a House of Representatives Natural Resources committee hearing. They were discussing the above mentioned Senator's latest bill, which was created to circumvent the democratic process and eliminate the public's right to vote on game species in Michigan, specifically timed to negate the 250,000 signatures gathered to put the wolf hunt on the ballot. He gave his bill synopsis to the committee, once again twisting the truth. And then, he tells the Committee that just last night four wolves attacked a family pet in the UP and the viciously killed the dog. He told us he wanted to show us the photos of the dead dog but they were so gruesome he was advised not to.
He diverted in a big way.
The rest of the hearing had nothing to do with his bill and everything to do with irate Representatives wanting the DNR to send armed officers to guard the residents of the UP from the wild wolves that will surely, as this Senator claimed at the end of his presentation, take the children next.
Testimony began. Citizens who spoke in opposition were harassed by several of the Representatives, being demeaned because they did not live in the UP. One Senator would ask each person if they lived in the UP. If they said no, which most did because they called the meeting just the night before, he would say "I have no other questions", as if this grand statement proved something. The Senator had instantly created an atmosphere of antagonism and anger, by aggravating fear in those who already were scared of wolves, and the urgency of the need to protect wolves in those who were there to speak against the bill.
I had spent several hours carefully drafting a statement which I fully planned to read at the hearing. After sitting in the hearing room for over an hour listening to this most uncivilized display by several of our public servants, I decided that if I was asked whether I was from the UP I might answer something like, "I will not dignify that question with a response. I will however answer any questions directly related to this bill or my testimony." Then I would take off my size 11 shoes and throw them directly at the heads of those two Representatives. Not a pretty sight. So I submitted my comments and went back to my office.
As I walked on the sidewalk around Michigan's Capital, I felt disillusioned. I wondered if all committee hearings are like this, or is it just the environmental bills? What was the point of all the testimony? It was not listened to, in fact the people who were brave enough to speak submitted themselves to disrespect and rudeness by the legislators we the People voted into office. One speaker said taking her right to vote away is not how a democracy is supposed to work. The Representative who was surveying everyone's peninsular affiliation, told her we are not a democracy. We are a republic. Huh.
Frankly, I don't know what the hell we are anymore.
While I have lived a life full of experiences that most have not gone through, I still retain a level of naivete. I still expect honesty and integrity in people. So when I decided to attend a Senate Committee hearing on an environmental bill, I was quite excited to once again see democracy in action. I took my seat and eagerly anticipated respectful dialogue and debate. I expected the Committee to be sincere in their solicitation of public comment. Did my bubble burst. The contents of the bill in question were never discussed. Ever. The Senator who introduce it employed a tactic of diversion, bringing up examples of the failings of the Michigan DNR and telling outright lies. I knew they were lies because I am a biologist and work in the programs he was describing. He told lies to his constituents, who believed him and supported his truly harmful and ridiculous bill. He would not discuss the contents of the bill in the hearing. Divert, divert, divert.
I attended the second hearing, hoping what I had observed in the first hearing was a fluke. It was not. This time the entire room was packed with people opposed to his bill. He told the audience he would hear all their testimony, then the Committee would take all the comments and deliberate for a week and then reintroduce the bill with amendments. At the end of the meeting, he promptly called a vote and passed the bill.
This is our Michigan legislature at work.
Today I attended a House of Representatives Natural Resources committee hearing. They were discussing the above mentioned Senator's latest bill, which was created to circumvent the democratic process and eliminate the public's right to vote on game species in Michigan, specifically timed to negate the 250,000 signatures gathered to put the wolf hunt on the ballot. He gave his bill synopsis to the committee, once again twisting the truth. And then, he tells the Committee that just last night four wolves attacked a family pet in the UP and the viciously killed the dog. He told us he wanted to show us the photos of the dead dog but they were so gruesome he was advised not to.
He diverted in a big way.
The rest of the hearing had nothing to do with his bill and everything to do with irate Representatives wanting the DNR to send armed officers to guard the residents of the UP from the wild wolves that will surely, as this Senator claimed at the end of his presentation, take the children next.
Testimony began. Citizens who spoke in opposition were harassed by several of the Representatives, being demeaned because they did not live in the UP. One Senator would ask each person if they lived in the UP. If they said no, which most did because they called the meeting just the night before, he would say "I have no other questions", as if this grand statement proved something. The Senator had instantly created an atmosphere of antagonism and anger, by aggravating fear in those who already were scared of wolves, and the urgency of the need to protect wolves in those who were there to speak against the bill.
I had spent several hours carefully drafting a statement which I fully planned to read at the hearing. After sitting in the hearing room for over an hour listening to this most uncivilized display by several of our public servants, I decided that if I was asked whether I was from the UP I might answer something like, "I will not dignify that question with a response. I will however answer any questions directly related to this bill or my testimony." Then I would take off my size 11 shoes and throw them directly at the heads of those two Representatives. Not a pretty sight. So I submitted my comments and went back to my office.
As I walked on the sidewalk around Michigan's Capital, I felt disillusioned. I wondered if all committee hearings are like this, or is it just the environmental bills? What was the point of all the testimony? It was not listened to, in fact the people who were brave enough to speak submitted themselves to disrespect and rudeness by the legislators we the People voted into office. One speaker said taking her right to vote away is not how a democracy is supposed to work. The Representative who was surveying everyone's peninsular affiliation, told her we are not a democracy. We are a republic. Huh.
Frankly, I don't know what the hell we are anymore.
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