Trust
Yes, that is a Starling on my head
I believe I’ve learned more about Trust in the last couple of years than in all my many years prior put together. I’ve learned who I can trust, and have learned who I can’t. I’ve learned that you can’t always trust the people who are supposed to be there to help you through hard times. I’ve learned that, sometimes, the ones you didn’t think you’d be able to trust turn out to be the most reliable.
However, more than anything else, the ones who’ve taught me the most about Trust have been animals. I often find that to be the case, and more than once, people have heard me say that in order to learn about the best parts of humanity one must observe one’s own dog. Since early 2008, however, I’ve had the honor to work with animals that most of my fellow humans only get to observe from afar (or on the Discovery Channel): wildlife. That was the year I received my wildlife rehabilitators license, and began to help wild things in need.
When a wild animal in need looks you in the eye, relaxes, and allows you to help it…Trust. That is a Trust that is completely on faith, perhaps a Trust born of desperation. It’s a trust that is wholly un-earned, for most wild animals have no experience with humans other than to know they are to be avoided. When a wild thing gives itself over to your hands, and to your care, you are hit with the impact of a Trust that will shake you right to the core. Not only that, it will enflame within you a desire to be worthy of that trust. You will do your best. You will tend, you will care, you will nurture, you will heal, and then….
You will let go. Just as that animal put its total Trust into your hands, you will then reach the point that you must release it back into the wild. Then, after all your hard work, all the love you have poured into raising that being, into healing its wounds, into bring it back to freedom, your only recourse is to Trust the universe to help it survive.
For some of us, reaching that point of ultimate Trust in nature is hard. It’s not that we don’t know that Nature can and will provide. It’s just that we have devoted so much, and loved so deeply, that it’s difficult to turn the care of our little friends over. Once they fly free, we have lost control of their fate. Trust, at that point, is removed from the realm of conscious decision.
Trust becomes our only option.
I, for the most part, have been specializing in songbirds. They usually come to me as babies. I hold them in my hands, I feed them every twenty minutes, I worry over teaching them to eat on their own. I move them outdoors when the time comes, and teach them what it’s like to live as “real birds” do. I currently have twelve wild birds that I’m caring for. Ten of those twelve are, as I type, being conditioned for release. I’ve seen them from naked nestlings to full grown juveniles, and soon I know I must open the release cage and let them go.
Will they stay around? I’ll be providing food and water and shelter should they choose to do so. Will they connect with others of their species and join the natural life of migration and propagation? Will I ever see them again?
I don’t know. All I can do … is Trust.
(And maybe cry a little….)
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The RAOKA mission seeks to remind us that Random Acts of Kick Arse happen all around us. The concept was begun by Sami, of Life, Laughs and Lemmings. Each month, a member of Sami’s RAOKA groupies picks a new theme to focus our attention on something positive and good in this world.
On the first Wednesday of the month (or Thursday for you folks living on the other half of this world) we all post about what we’ve observed.
May’s theme for RAOKA will be “Serenity”, chosen by Zeenat of Positive Provocations!
Please visit the other RAOKA members and enjoy their thoughts on the theme of the month:
Lance at Jungle of Life
Lori at Jane Be Nimble
Zeenat at Positive Provocations
[logo designed by Melissa at Operation Nice]
Wow – I love this and the picture your words paint. What you describe with the birds is similar to my feelings as a parent. I do all that I can to educate and expose and provide my daughter with experiences and information to build a foundation… and every year I let her go that much more trusting that I did my best and that she has her own path to follow – I trust the universe to care for her and support her just as you do the birds and the wildlife. I kind of feel like a mother bear or something – I don’t shelter my daughter as much as I expose her to life and ensure that she has what she needs to move forward.
Love this post!
The Exception, it sounds like you’re finding just the right balance as a mommy. My kids are 24 and 20 now … and such good kids. I am so very proud of them.
Hi Gayze,
I learned new things about you that I didn’t know before today. You are one amazing women, Gayze. I got misty reading about your songbirds and how much you care for them — feeding them every 20 minutes, and your experience with them trusting you.
This post really got me thinking about the beauty in nature, animals, and Nature around us. What a gift!
Also, I LOVE, LOVE the photo of your with the bird on your head!!! I swear she (he?) is smiling with you! We must have been on the same vibration — posting photos of ourselves.
Thanks for being my soul sister and helping me with raoka, Gayze.
~xo
Thanks so much, Lori! LOL, that is either Stars or Stripes (my son seems to remember that it was Stripes), one of our pet starlings. They came to us as rescues, and taught me all about what not to do when you’re trying to prevent baby birds from imprinting on you!
Thus, they couldn’t be released, and since starlings are not a protected species (though 99.9% of migratory birds in the US are), we were allowed to give them a permanent home. They’re happy little clowns who speak more English than Birdish, and keep me laughing. If you haven’t yet, you can hear some sound clips of Stars talking here:
http://www.gazehound.com/my-starlings-talking/
Gayze:
Wow, your post blew me away! First off, good for you to be doing some important work that you’re passionate about. The world (and people like me, especially) needs that energy. Your description of an animal trusting you is quite simply amazing. I suppose, after all your work and caring for your animals, that trust is your only option as you release them back into the wild. Thank you for making me think about trust in a completely new way!
Thank you so much for visiting, Tim, and for your kind words. I was just saying to a friend this morning that I have no trouble giving to my animal friends, because they give so very much to me. When you deal with wildlife, I guess the idea of letting go and trusting the universe to provide is one that you have to internalize.
And thanks so much for participating in RAOKA. It really is a Kick Arse life, isn’t it?
Gayze,
This post is absolutely soul-touching. What a beautiful, beautiful gift you give to these creatures. And I happen to think they can very much sense TRUST. And in you, they very much sense the safe haven you provide.
This is so, so moving to read – and in this I’m also just drawn to the wonderful gift you give to our world….
Peace,
Lance
Thank you so much, Lance. Being a mommy, having raised human kids as well as countless pets and now quite a few little birds to juvenile freedom, I have to confess…. I have a HARD TIME with the letting go.