American White Pelican : All Our Parts
This is an American White Pelican. Before my trip, I hadn’t realized that I was likely to see one in this particular park at this particular time of year. Oh what a surprise and joy it was! These are magnificent birds, and I was incredibly fortunate to encounter this one flying so close. Later I did a little research at a site that tracks the presence of various species around the world through the cycle of the year. And what it showed is the ebb and flow of pelicans’ presence. There are seasons when they’re populous, and there are times when they’re rare or even nonexistent. Seen the right way, a seemingly sterile histogram instead becomes a depiction of the rise and fall in joy that comes from seeing this bird.
On the Hebrew calendar, this is the month of Adar. Tradition teaches that this is the season when we experience the most joy. Purim is here, and Passover is just around the corner. But what about if we don’t feel the joy of the season? The Sages teach that we are commanded to rejoice in the festivals. Even if we’re not feeling it, we are taught to put ourselves into the mindset of joy. And conversely there are times later in the year where we mourn fully in historical commemoration. This rhythm of the calendar and the ebb and flow of both joy and sorrow are baked into the structure of a year no less than the phases of the moon or our revolutions around the sun. Joy and sorrow are no less ordained than spring and winter.
Why is the world this way? Why are we obligated to experience this cyclicality? Why not all joy, all the time? Simple answers abound, but more richly, think a moment on the recurring theme of separation in our tradition. Light from darkness, waters from land, life from the inanimate. These separations transcend illustrative binaries. The gifts of joy and sorrow - in their infinite gradations - let us appreciate our own infinite variety and capability to savor and to grapple with the events and feelings that come our way in life. The commandments to be joyful and to sorrow exercise our Divine endowments. Coming and going provide me a broader appreciation of the Pelican, so too yearly highs and lows manifest our full humanity.