As I was coming out the far side of the park today, on my way to the recreation center, I was surprised to see two chickens walking along the boulevard. Not that I haven't seen chickens before, and I am aware that even some of the municipalities that are largely suburban, allow for the keeping of some feathered livestock - it was just that I had walked that route many times and never seen any before this morning.
I did ask them what they were doing there, though it didn't occur to ask if they could shed light on the road crossing conundrum and besides they seemed content to hang out in the shaded grass. I looked around to see if anyone else was seeing what I was seeing or seeing me seeing what I thought I was seeing; a glance back reaffirmed that what I was seeing, I still saw.
I began down the side street (detouring from my route and intended destination) to see if I could see into any yards near by that might have a pen - reasoning these two were AWOL. Then concern crept in, what if someone sees me looking into yards and thinks I'm up to no good? How does concern for my fine feathered friends and/or their owners, suddenly become misconstrued by me and I know my motives are pure - don't I?
Next it occurs to me - just because this fowl play is occurring in my midst, it doesn't mean they live anywhere in this neighborhood. They could have flown/walked from God knows where! I decided that perhaps the fate of these chickens laid, somewhere beyond my jurisdiction. I started back toward the recreation center and a women was getting into her car. I asked, "do you by any chance have chickens?" "Because two of them are on a walk-a-bout!"
She answered, "Yes, it's too hot in the coop to keep them there during the day - I hope they don't get lost or chased away." "Thank you for watching out for them - they know how to find their way home." She didn't seem to be the least bit concerned, which I'm not saying is wrong, but I did go away wondering, why I was?
The phrase "they know how to find their way home" continued to ricochet round and about within me, like an arcade pin-ball. It raised the question for me, which I suppose is encapsulated in the adage, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions," when are intentions (good or otherwise) interference? What if, "we" all know how to get home, and "good intentioned" interventions are like on Star Trek - "interfering with the prime directive." I might think I'm helping - maybe even the person "being helped" thinks I'm being helpful - but are they really being helped? If I was driving down the road and picked you up, and when asked, you said "thanks for the lift, I'm heading home," and then I proceeded to take you to my intended destination and then said "glad I was able to help, fare thee well!" I think it could be agreed it wasn't helpful - given the objective was you going home.
What I'm getting at is, not only might good intentions be interfering - they might be conceived entirely based on erroneous assumptions. What a bag of worms that is! On a different tack, but I hope it will be useful to further illuminate my point about assumptions, I was reading an article online the other day. This article had to do with the high incidence of back pain in the western world and how frequently it can go from acute to chronic, the high incidence of surgical intervention which itself, can just as easily create long term problems. The article included pictures of what is always considered to be the "natural" (S-shaped) configuration of the spine. The problem is, in other parts of the world where there is less automation, automobile travel and more manual labour, the curvature at the cervical and lumbar spine is far less extreme. The studies suggested that muscle imbalances, weakness and inflexibility brought on by western living, distorted the natural weight bearing properties of the spine which made it susceptible to injury when called upon to bare a load. How then can, all the various disciplines weigh in on spinal wellness, if all their good intentioned intervention is based on an erroneous model of what constitutes a health spine? It's like to a cosmetic dentist, everyone needs braces!
Tricky business this perceptions and assumptions - what really is going on?
I went to the gym and walked back the same way I had come. Now on the boulevard where I had seen the chickens there was a cat, contently laying in the shade. Did kitty have squab for lunch? I don't know!
What I do know is - "how to find my way home."
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