Gray Catbird : Take a Breath

This is a Gray Catbird.  It is a common but elusive bird in the Boulder area.  They tend to stay in thickets and brush.  I had seen one clearly, almost posing, at this park a year ago.  And so when I returned, I had high hopes that I’d again encounter another.  And each day I did.  I saw one deep in a bush.  I saw another flit past me.  I saw a third at a great distance.  In each case, it was impossible to receive a photo that I could offer.  Each missed opportunity took just a little something out of me.  Why does it have to be this hard?  And then I went home and returned the following morning - as I would anyway.  I tried to replace frustration with bemusement.  This trip, a year later, a year older, I was more cognizant that, “there’s always another bird.”

There is a very difficult story of two of Israel’s sons.  Shimon and Levi learn a local prince has raped their sister.  They immediately set out to avenge her and the family.  They formulate a cunning plan and slaughter all the men in the prince’s tribe.  They acted in haste and brutally.  Perhaps my characterization is just modern sensitivity?  Ancient norms were different.  Am I imposing today’s perspectives on an incomparable era?  Look, though, at Israel’s deathbed response.  He pairs Shimon and Levi and castigates their wrath.  Their own father uses his last words to them to disassociate himself and to curse their behavior.  What if instead they had slept on the news?  Took counsel with their father rather than being so impulsive?

Patience.  Patience is a hard thing.  I claim no more and maybe less than my fair share.  What I have experienced, though, is that decisions made hurriedly are rarely good much less optimal.  And I was taught that it’s almost never necessary to make a decision, an important decision, prior to a good night’s sleep.  In the moment, I could have been frustrated, even angered, that the catbird seemed to be doing its best to avoid my camera.  Instead I had a good night’s sleep - and this photo the following day.  I have never regretted that approach.  May we all learn from both the Catbird and Israel’s sons that hasty and rash reactions almost invariably end poorly.  The fullness of time is a reliable source of blessing.