Is it just your problem?
Knock-knock!
Who’s there?
(Remind you of a joke?)
But it was no joke to the speaker on the podium… or to the bird who was repeatedly flying into the long window behind him. The speaker knew the bird’s attacks would be very distracting to the audience, so he called their attention to it.
A red cardinal was apparently seeing his reflection in the window and deciding it was an adversary, he flew at the window to attack his replica.
He did this on and off for about an hour. (Yes, it was distracting but what could you do?)
Theoretically the bird could have decided not to attack the reflection. Or after doing it a zillion times he could have decided he wasn’t making an impact on the problem.
Teaching moment!
So it seems like there is a “teaching moment” in this cardinal/window episode.
Can it relate to our “life”?
Can we find ourselves attacking a reflection of what we think is an enemy? Or a problem?
You focus on it… you attack it.
But the “enemy’s response”…
But “it” doesn’t attack back.
It just remains there.
It doesn’t go away… no matter how much effort you make attacking it.
And so…
So how much time do we spend in our lives just attacking a problem that is simply a reflection?
Maybe we should ask ourselves: What does this “adversary” represent?
Is it just reflection of something we don’t like in our life?
Are we the only one who sees it as an enemy?
Maybe we should consider this…
What are we accomplishing by attacking this “reflection”?
Should we do something different?
Could it be that we might just be distracting others?
I probably missed a lot of what the speaker said that day because I was watching the cardinal “attack” its self-designated “problem”!
But this is where friends can help. Or strangers. Someone else might see what we’re doing… and help us identify the situation… and find a better solution.
And “Knock - Knock” can be a joke again!
:)
(This column was inspired after hearing the authors of the book: How to Stop Freaking the %#$@ Out! by Erin Pasch and Kyle Keller at the Cannon Falls Library.)
