Flight of the Cardinal

Categories: Uncategorized May 11, 2014

The other day I was in a box gym that had many windows on its face side. Outside, there was a cardinal who kept ramming hisself into the windows. He would attack the window and fly back to my car, and when he regathered himself, he would attack the window again. He kept this up for as long as I was there.

I live in North Carolina, and the cardinal is our state bird. I guess that is a way that the state of NC devised to protect the cardinal as it is apparently a stupid bird. This cardinal was trying to fight its own reflection for an hour, maybe even longer than that.

Here is the cool thing about that though: the cardinal had not learned that he was fighting hisself. His brain is small and not capable of rational thought, or at least is certainly did not demonstrate the ability of rational thought. Yet, even though the cardinal is "dumb", inside it's little brain is a program to fly. Inside of his little head is a blue print for how to build a nest. It even knows how to hunt for food. The cardinal has these amazing programs in its head that ensure its survival and livelihood; even though it is not very "bright."

Like the cardinal, we too have programs inside of our brains that were put there to ensure our livelihood. We have a program for how to move and raise our heads, for how to fight against gravity, for how to learn to roll, rock, crawl, and walk. These movement programs are designed to make us strong and capable of anything. They are designed to help us have and enjoy life.

BUT, unlike the cardinal, we are "smart." We have rational thought, reason and logic. We have the ability to think our way through things and not fight our own reflections. The downside of that though is that we have the ability to reason ourselves away from the programs we have been given to keep us healthy.

What I mean is, no matter how dumb the cardinal is, he will not alter his intended programs to fly, find food, and build nests. He will continue to do these things, after all, he is a cardinal. It is what he was made to do. We, people, on the other hand, are "smart" enough to override our intended programs. We make choices not to walk, not to move, not to eat apples but instead grab donuts. We can even change the way we breathe from the way we were born breathing to the way we should only reserve as emergencies. We are "smart" enough to actually become something other than we were made to be because we have the ability to alter, or ignore, our intended programs. After all, we are people. We know what we are doing.

The cardinal may not be smart, but it will continue to always be a cardinal: capable of flight, singing, building, and saving the world from familiar looking reflections. People may not be dumb, but we move further and further away from our intended designs yearly, if not daily. If we do not wise up, one day we may find that we have let what should be the most miraculous creation that has ever walked on the earth become something it was never intended to be - sad, weak, fragile, and broken.

You were made to move, to be strong, to be full of life. You were never meant to be empty. It may be time to follow the cardinal's example: Look at your reflection and fight. You have an optimal design. It is in you. You are wonderfully made. Learn how to express the wonder that you are. If you need help doing this, let us know.

Oh, and if you were wondering what I was doing inside of a "box" gym, I was crawling!


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