2 January

Birdseeds: The Chickens And The News

by Jon Katz
Birdseed for the New Year

 

Chickens waddle through life undeterred. They inspire me to begin the New Year by good and hard work, by persistent pecking at the obstacles to success and creativity. They live honest and unassuming lives.

This morning, on someone’s Facebook Page, I saw a story about the LA arsonist and another about a shooting in New York. The author said, “see how we begin the New Year in LA and New York City? By burning and shooting one another!”

I hardly ever see anyone else’s Facebook Page, and even more rarely comment, but I could not resist posting a paragraph about an 81 year old woman in the Midwest who was rolling her wheelchair by a house when she smelled smoke, rolled her chair up to the porch, crawled into the house on her hands and knees to save three children, two dogs, a cat and a parakeet. How proud she was, she said, of her burned hands and arms, how grateful she had the chance to do such good before she got too old to crawl.

Did you all see this story?, I asked. There was no answer on the Facebook Page.  Perhaps they did not see it, because it did not make the news, was not a headline anywhere, and did not involve burning buildings and flashing lights. Nor was it news that so many millions of people in Los Angeles and New York  did their work, loved their families, and obeyed the law and did not shoot anyone or burn anything. They are not news either.

Chickens make their own news. So can I.

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