Bird's Eye View

 

By: Misty Murph'Ariens

 

“From a bird's eye view I can see we are family....from a bird's eye view I can see you are just like me. It's not hard for me to love you...unconditionally.” -The World as I See It, by Jason Mraz I have always loved to be around animals—all animals. In Texas, there are some dangerous animals—lethally venomous snakes and insects. In order to be safe outdoors, we had to be aware of the animals around us. My Dad, I recall, was very pragmatic about this teaching. He taught my brother and I how to identify each creature, as well as their habits. More importantly, though, he taught that we only fear what we don’t understand. In so doing, he inspired me to understand as much as I possibly could. He prompted us to put ourselves in the animals position, to think about how we would feel to be so small and to feel cornered. He helped us recognize that these animals didn’t want to hurt us for no reason, they had a certain nature that they would be true to, and they always acted in self-preservation to the best of their awareness. If it is not going to eat you and you don’t make yourself a threat to them, they will not threaten you. This putting myself in another`s shoes is what gives spending so much time with animals now so enlightening. When you voluntarily use the language of each animal—appropriate body language and to some degree, mimicked sounds—and engage them daily in social interaction (eye contact, feeding, petting) as intelligent peers, you start to understand the wisdom each animal has to teach us. For instance, nothing fills me with more benevolent peace of mind than to spend time with cows—chewing the cud in a sunny meadow, nursing a calf or during milking. It is not just that cows are relaxing to watch, it is something about their placid reactions to the stimulus about them. You see, states of mind are learned and can be forgotten. Spending too much time in a city with all it's rush and bustle, I for one can totally forget how to be relaxed. But, every day I have to move the pigpen, and when I'm watching pigs ecstatically root their way through fresh ground, I cannot help but be joyful. And, of course, there is the subtle and delicate art of communication with horses. Animals forgive almost anything—how you look, how you smell, how much or little you have. They judge you on who you really are—what kind of deeds you do, what mood you are in, and how generous you are. There is something about the acceptance of animals that reassures me that I must be a good person. Some of the very best time spent on the farm is in moving out amongst all the animals in the meadow and watching each of them engage you and each other in their conversation. They move in response to our presence, some come right out to see you, some make eye contact, some prick their ears in your direction, some jump right onto your shoulder to cuddle (fortunately, that's the cats, not the bull calf). Spending time with them this way teaches you to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of different animals` strategies. Patience, teaches the milk cow. Play, teaches the calf. Relax, teach the cats. Explore, teach the kittens. Be cautious, teaches the mamma duck. Have fun, teach the ducklings. Seek pleasure, teaches the pony. Seek safe shelter, teach the hens. Be brave, teaches the rooster. Tread lightly, teach the rabbits. Each of these strategies has pros and cons, situations they do well in, others not. Remembering these lessons daily reminds me to be more flexible and well-rounded. It is sometimes easy to forget, in amongst all the man-made trappings of civilization, that we are all animals. But, living within nature, it is clear to me that all of us on the farm are more alike than different and, clever as we humans are, we have a lot to learn from our animal peers. Albert Einstein said, “The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” Maybe we just need a different point of view. (FYI: For some of the most inspiring lyrics you'll ever hear, download some Jason Mraz. He lets you download his music for free.)