Each morning walk is a unique experience of creation’s grandeur and man’s place in it. Offering a Mary and Martha moment of both action and contemplation.
My walks have evolved from physical exercise to a sacred ritual. As I put on my walking shoes, I feel the anticipation of what I will hear and see. Every walk seems different. The route has barking dogs, billy goats, bullfrogs, horses, donkeys, majestic oaks, pecan trees, open pasture, and many many birds.
Soon after beginning this morning’s walk, I hear the tap-tap-tap of a woodpecker and it automatically pulls my head out of deep and distracted thought and unawares.
I stop for a moment to gaze at this beautiful bird tapping atop a power pole and think. Yes! I am now awake, thank you. I begin to listen and appreciate the natural symphony all around me. I continue walking.
50 steps further, someone has dumped what remained of their 10 lb. “to-go” order of boiled crawfish, along with their empty beer bottles and Coca Cola. With resentment, I think, “I can’t believe this!” I am once again emotionally and spiritually distracted by man’s social (dis)ease and (dis)regard. I continue walking.
As I turn the corner there is a single red-wing blackbird perched atop the power line chirping away. Seemingly unafraid to my walking underneath. I soon hear and see more.
These red wing blackbirds bring me back to a distant memory of being with my Dad as a 10 year old when he took me with him to visit some rice farmers. It was a cold winter morning and the flocks of blackbirds in the fields were magical.
It’s been two years since daily walks have become a part of my morning ritual. I learn much from these walks. Sometimes I even sing. Thinking of St Francis and his preaching to the animals. But mostly, I am listening. The symphony of blackbirds, cardinals, blue jays, crows, robins, sparrows, egrets, purple martins, and the doves seem to change throughout each seasons of the year.
Even the hawks and buzzards majestically circulating high above in the air currents cause me to gaze upward. I do believe there is somethings to learned by watching them. And it is hard not to believe there is a language being communicated and understood by the birds themselves.
I often wonder about the many birds of my youth that were plentiful but no longer: the meadowlarks, cedar-wax wings, quail, and kildee’s. Some say the absence of these birds are due to herbicides, pesticides and fire ants which is highly probable. Although, I can take blame knowing I have killed many birds as an eager young boy with a pellet gun: my part in man’s (dis)ease.
Yet, even in this sacred exercise of daily walks, there is a uncomfortable reality: man’s production, consumption, and then willfully discarding of garbage roadside. This roadside garbage is simply visual evidence of man’s (dis)ease and (dis)regard in the world: beer, soda pop, energy drink cans, liquor bottles, fast food garbage, dirty diapers, plastics, and crawfish heads. It is everywhere and we hardly seem to care much.
I decided a couple of months ago that I would bring a trash bag, on occasion, and pick up the litter. No big deal, I was already walking the route. On my first attempt I filled my household dumpster. I have since walked with trash bag in hand about a half dozen times. I think (jokingly) that all I need to do now is wear a prison jumpsuit and wait for the community gossip to come back around. This simple act is good and it did require me to swallow some pride.
But it also challenges me spiritually. This is a dead-end road, so most of the littering is likely done by residents who live on the road.
I now find myself in a spiritual paradox where a good act can lead to sin (if I allow it). My ego attempts to build a mental construct that because I do a “good” deed – I am a good person (proud and self-righteousness). This then leads me to be resentful when I see fresh litter. My thoughts of the people who live down the road are (now) filled with suspicion and prejudice.
The littering will not stop, so I decided when I see litter along my walk, instead of swelling resentment, I would pray for those individuals that they may grow in gratefulness for the gift of creation. Now, whether this prayer affects them, I cannot say. What I can hope for is that my prayer affects me. And if it does that – it is miracle enough.
This morning, after seeing that dump of crawfish heads – praying for those individuals took some “extra” doing.
My heart and soul still has a way to go, …I continue walking
Lord, teach us to be faithful in seeking the common good, and that your light may shine on the whole human family. Help us to remain faithful to a sacred way of life and guide us to the inheritance that you have promised.
