Blog 2772 – 06.01.2023

Fox In The Hen House

Today’s title is an expression that is from a farmer’s point of view. Many of our cliches, mottos, and sayings express a very narrow and biased point of view. Hattie and the Fox gives us the hen’s point of view, still long before the first farm with a hen house, chicken lived in the wild and had no chicken wire to prevent foxes and other predators from getting at them.

You cannot blame a fox for enjoying a chicken dinner when it is we humans who are the biggest predators of chickens, devouring them and their unborn by the millions each day around the world.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am neither a vegetarian nor a vegan, having eaten more than my share of chickens and their eggs, and I have no plans of removing them from my diet. I am only trying to say that the farmer, the chicken processor, and biggest consumer’s point of view is not the only one.

Like with Disney’s Bambi, today we have a story written from the victim’s point of view. It is a sweet story for children, yet deer hunters still hunt and kill Bambi’s dad every chance they get. And venison, if prepared correctly, is one of the finer tasting meat dishes.

There once was a time when the First People gave thanks to the deer for their sacrifice and believed that every rock, and tree and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a time. Wise Merlin in the Arthur legends teaches young Walt, the would be king, by turning him into every animal and bird from beaver to the smallest bobolink. King Arthur later wished he had had a whirl at being turned into a girl so he could understand the way the creatures think. It isn’t so hard to imagine ourselves walking in someone else’s footsteps. There is a Cherokee saying translated into a nineteen sixties rock anthem that says “Before you accuse, criticize, and abuse, walk a mile in my shoes.”

Foxes, squirrels, and many of the rest of us are often misjudged for actions and behaviors that come quite natural to us. I am encouraged when I see even two of our wildest species, Democrats and Republicans compromising for the greater good and raising the debt limit till 2025. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15ONvRcBZ2KwtECGDtRFxJ4c9SKDwyafT/view?usp=drivesdk

Hattie and the Fox

Colors Of The Wind – Sung by Vanessa Williams [Lyrics]