Art, Nature, The Future, Uncategorized

Emus As Symbols

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Todays post comes from NorthShorer.

Like everyone, I suppose, I made assumptions about what I would be like in retirement. I imagined a man straight of back, steady of hand, with a piercing chilling blue-eyed gaze. Well, make that a deep mysterious brown-eyed distant look above a rich white beard to tell of the lessons I had learned of wind and wave, time and tide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead I ended up being a doubled-over rumpled dumpling who cannot look at much but the ground, lost in pain, not deep thoughts.

You know what they say about people who assume. You end up being as daft as emus, a person who amuses others with fake truths. I like the word assumption, with its sump right in the middle, where one ends up from assuming.

But, of course, it is false thinking that making assumptions is bad. Life is based on assumptions. For example, we assume much about people we encounter on the road, that they will be polite and careful. It is only the few times our assumptions are false that we notice, and then over-generalize about it. It is also wise to assume idiots are on the road and keep a weather eye for them.

Love is a large assumption. If we do not assume trust and fidelity, then we cannot really love. Or in agape love, I assume I can only give and assume from their it is not my concern. Feed a starving dog and it may bite you, they say. But love says you assume perhaps it will. You guard your fingers and keep feeding. Who knows what the starving dog has survived.

So go ahead. Be an emu. Stick your long neck out.

But I assume I could be wrong.

What bird is your totem?

36 thoughts on “Emus As Symbols”

    1. I heard a woman describe her “evil” parrot. He’s evil because he plays tricks. One trick is to make the sound–with perfect fidelity–of the telephone ringing. They payoff is watching people running to answer the phone. Another trick is to jack up the dog. “Wanna go to the park Fluffy? PARK, Fluffy! Go to the PARK!” The payoff here is watching the dog spin with excitement in tight circles. This parrot apparently gets bored easily, but he knows things to do about it.

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        1. I met a man once who had spent time with Jonathon Winters. He described Winters as “The only man I ever met who shoulda been locked up, but wasn’t.” And by that he meant locked up in some mental institution. I mention this because he told several stories about Winters doing exactly what that parrot did, creating havoc by imitating sounds and voices that led to conflict and confusion.

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  3. I think I’d like to be a crow. Or actually any kind of corvid. I’ve just been reading about them. They are incredibly smart, social birds and have remarkable ways of communicating. And they just often look like they’re having fun.

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      2. Ravens, another corvid species, have a special relationship with wolves. They often amuse themselves by playing with wolves. dropping down to yank some hairs off a wolf’s butt. It isn’t clear if the wolves share their sense of fun in this. Film I’ve seen suggests the wolves would kill the ravens if they could.

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      1. We’re down to 6 guineas… figuring on getting more this summer. Yeah, the article is pretty much right on other than I’ve not had trouble raising them from chicks then letting them all out at once. They hang around.
        They scavenge for food more than the chickens because I don’t see them in eating the chicken food very often. And they do roost outside in trees sometimes.Mostly they come in and go up in the rafters.
        And they are TERRIBLE mothers. They won’t hatch anything until a good cold rainy October day…

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  5. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    Whatever bird is a friend to Baboons, I want to be that one!

    Today I am the white crested finch, weekending in Iowa and migrating north later today. 😉🤔

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  6. Such cool carvings, NS – who made the coat and hat for the upper one?

    Great Blue Heron… I’ve been drawn to them for a long time… I identify with the bulky middle and (relatively) thin legs.
    No wait – White-throated Sparrow, love their song (they should be migrating through MN about now, but if I were them I’d wait a bit…).
    No wait… Red-bellied Woodpecker – looks to me like a teenaged boy wearing cap backward.

    This could go on for a while.

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  7. Fun blog, NS, and I love your emu at the top; nice woodcarvings, too.

    I’ve been giving this some thought this morning, and I’m having a difficult time deciding what qualities of a bird I would go for. Colorful plumage seems like an obvious choice, but birds have so many other distinguishing characteristics that it is hard to choose. I love the way an owl is able to turn its head, the swiftness of the swallow, and the call of the loon. And I just can’t resist the color of the feet of a blue footed boobie:

    But, when all is said and done, the black capped chickadee just might be my choice. There is just something in that little critter that speaks to me.

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  8. Yes, Barbara, he is all wood, that sailor man.
    I am suddenly feeding many many little birds. Mostly juncos, but I love juncos hopping on the top of the snow. Cardinals and house finches. Chickadees. The pileated is hanging around. He really looks like the bill of his cap is toward the back.
    I like al,animals that cross the lines, such as platypus, and birds that drift from normal behavior. As a result I like birds that live in the ground, such as burrowing owl.
    Knew I would wake up this a.m. and find faults. But typing their for there. That is a common sort of fault with me. I am regressing back to about third grade.

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  14. Based on this weekend, I think mine would be a Great Snowy Owl. But I would rather have some small colorful bird like the Lilac Breasted Roller or a large colorful bird like a Macaw.

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  15. Western North Dakota isn’t half as bare and without services as the B concourse of Mpls airport. I am in a food and beverage desert!

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    1. Doesn’t seem right to “like” that comment, unless we can agree that “liking” something is merely an acknowledgement that “I hear you.”

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