Wednesday, March 4, 2009

We forgot it

I feed peanuts the bluejays, and they come every day and ask for it, since they count on it. When we are travelling and no one is at home, they just don't get their used portion. When we come back, it always takes a few days until they notice things are back to usual. This time I noticed an interesting behavior in the bluejays. They were very happy to take their peanuts and fly away with them. But after a few take-outs, they began to dig and hide them in one of the planters. I have seen animals hiding their food many times in my life, dogs, squirrels, I know it happens. Yet, I was looking at it differently today. I said to myself: They are saving the peanuts, they are putting them away for a time when we're not at home for example. They are not eating more than they need today.
Then I immediately thought about the global crisis we are in, product of greed, of excessive consumption, of the take-make-waste mentality, where we are the 20% of the population that has been eating so much more than we needed, and 80% is paying the bill - together with the 20% of course too, just in a milder way.
As i was reflecting on that, I heard in the news that Gandhi's sandals will be auctioned this week in New York, and the bid expects to sell them at USD 20 or 30,ooo. Now, what is this telling us about our values, if someone is willing to spend that money to own a pair of sandals from one of the most virtuous persons? Definitely it will not help him walk in Gandhi's shoes...
At what point in history did we forget we were part of Nature, and forgot the wisdom we were carrying because of that? At what point in time did we become less smart than birds?