By Mike Traynor
Almost twenty years ago, Rodney King said, “People, I just want to say, can’t we all get along?” Twenty years later, the question bears renewed urgency. Perhaps some experienced advice from our animal brethren could help? Visiting their nearby log, I asked the wood ducks, box turtles, and night heron, who offered humans two pieces of advice:
Share your log
There is always enough room to be kind. Even in the tightest spots, let your neighbor fit onto your log. Live by the motto “My log is your log.”Be zen on your log
Practice inter-species zen. Be present and fully in the moment while log-meditating among all fellow species. Being fully present has its advantages, especially when a hawk flying overhead decides your log is the lunch buffet, and you are the featured entree.
Could you imagine humanity being as kind and zen-like as these fellow animals? Me neither. Perhaps a source of our problem is a failure of imagination? Let’s imagine the world we want to live in, and then live it. It begins with each of us. That is what the turtles, herons, and ducks suggest we do to make our own log a peaceable kingdom.
