Leuterers Regional Desk, Redmond, WA
The Redmond Heron, of the species Ardios Herodias/ Great Blue Heron, a long respected and very reclusive member of the local community, granted this reporter a rare interview over the Easter weekend.
Meeting with Mr. Heron I opened with a question on current events beginning by asking if he was aware of them. He answered that of course he was. “The entire world is aware. Not only we herons.
“We’ve seen this many, times with your species. And many others which have come and gone. By the way, please feel free to refer to me as Harry. You humans, you truly believe you are the masters of your destiny even though the data presented as a result of your actions continuously makes it abundantly clear that you are not. Yet you continue your path of folly as if drawn by inertia. And in fact, your species is currently driven by exactly that; you are caught, seemingly inexorably, in the inertia of folly.”
Asking the Sage of the Slough – a colloquial term used to refer to the Redmond Heron, Harry, as he makes his abode along an area of the Sammamish River known as the Slough and has been known over the years to occasionally proffer groundbreaking philosophical insights to passersby on the river trail – to expound on the inertia of folly concept, he answered with,
“There’s not a lot to say. The phrase is self-explanatory. And not a new one. You humans have been aware of it in the past and even devised writings and plays around it. Not only your Shakespeare but many before him. Though I must say I am partial to his Much Ado About Nothing. And not only due to the fact I once knew a bird who reminded me so of Beatrice and yes, I was her Benedick, alas, but I digress.
“The point is we, all species on this planet, may be drawn into folly, but the key, young human, and I say young in reference to your species, not you personally as you seem a bit down the river, as we herons say. I believe you say, ‘over the hill.’ Regardless, the key is to acknowledge folly, even embrace it but only as a precursor to letting it go. You humans must let go of your folly through a change of perception.”
When asked for advice on how one might affect a change of perception to escape the inertia of folly on a species numbering over eight billion, Harry laughed. Or at least this reporter took it for a laugh as it sounded more like the loud croaking herons make when irritated with humans. Upon completing the croaking and shaking of his head he answered,
“There you go. The perfect example of what I was referring to earlier. You are not a master of your destiny. You cannot affect change upon eight billion of your fellows. You can’t affect change on one of your fellows. But what you can do, is affect change on yourself. And that, my friend, is the key to not only saving your species but beginning to know your over 14-billion-year history in this, you call it Universe, we avians refer to it as Arco-Del-Sol. Arc of the sun. But not just this sun, this sun overhead. Oh no. All suns. The arc of the suns bend toward goodness. The arc is goodness. The arc is what you call God.”
When asked to further clarify, the Redmond Heron, Harry, begged off saying he was tired of talking. That he hadn’t talked this much in years, and it would probably be years before he spoke again at such length. He added that he didn’t know much, and in fact he stated he “knew only a little.” He then went on to say his wife Helen knew much more, but for exactly that reason she would not speak to humans.
In closing Harry Heron stated his wife did have a message to pass along, however. “She wanted to let you know that she hoped humans wouldn’t go the way of the hubristos.”
This reporter asked who were the hubristos and as Harry prepared to fly off, he answered, “Just another failed species, much like yours, from about 700 million years back. Bipeds with a brain bigger than their feet. Always risky business, that.” And there was much croaking as he took to wing.