Eulogy for a Pelican
For days I have been avoiding watching the news, knowing full well that the images of oil soaked birds would soon appear. Still fresh in my mind are the images of the oil covered birds form the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Images of innocent birds that once having been imprinted in my mind, slowly began to eat away at the layers of denial that are part of the heritage and guilt that I carry as a privileged consumer living in the oil dependent world.
Last night a dear friend called to remind me that President Obama was being interviewed by Larry King. President Obama’s words, that he was “Furious” about the oil spill, were enough to allow me to understand that he deeply cared and out of this place of growing discontent had been and would continue to act appropriately.
There is a connection of community that I feel toward this president that is unlike that which I have had for any of those preceding him. Perhaps it is my age that now allows me to ponder questions of importance such as what am I leaving to my children, to the children I work with each day who touch my heart with their goodness, and to the millions of children of this world that others, often of power, treat as if they were throw away objects. I have in some small way extended and connected my heart to this president. I have allowed myself to once again believe that the goodness that lies in the hearts of all human beings can be ignited and that we can, in all our diverse ways of seeing and celebrating life on this beautiful planet that we all call home, begin to see ourselves as community. I have placed my trust in him just at those who voted him into office also have done. Into his care an awesome responsibility has been given. We must remember that he is made of human flesh and heart just as all of us are. He is a voice guiding a process through times of transition. This process is an organic one growing out of humanity’s need for change. A change that will sustain planetary survival for all sentient beings. My prayer is that President Obama inspires us well.
Following the Larry King Live presentation I continued to watch CNN and this was when I first viewed the images of the oil soaked birds, of the oil soaked pelican struggling to fly; wings horizontally stretched, a head reaching toward the sky. I had already seen the images of the grasses covered with oil and mourned the loss of the beauty and the home of many creatures that live in these marsh grasses. My body understood the significant disaster that we were in the process of experiencing.
When I saw the images of the pelican and the other oil soaked birds, the seagulls in the fishing net, I wept. This evening as I write I hold back tears as I have all day. It is a tragedy of unprecedented consequences that will have lasting effects on so many.
I write from the heart, from a soul level of understanding that a grievous act of violence has been committed. I begin to wonder, who the true perpetrators of this crime are. I cannot excuse myself. In my need for oil to support the lifestyle that I live I am a contributor to this crime and yet I am victim as well. I must admit that like the CEO of BP, I too would like this problem fixed so that I also may return to my life. So that I can re-weave that thin veil of denial that allows me to enjoy a privileged life that most of the world will never know. My heart screams with madness, not the madness of understanding my complicity but with a madness that only comes with deep mourning when one begins to witness the insanity of the moment as once cherished values fall into dust and nothing is left to replace them.
In this time of transition I have only one thing to fall back upon; the experience and deep belief that within the human heart there is a spark of goodness, a spark of light. This light is our connecting path through the transition moments that we are now experiencing. It is in moments when we acknowledge this heart connection that humanity moves toward the creation of a new myth; a myth that will carry all, into an expanding view of the world as community.
Eulogy to a Pelican is more than a tribute to an oil soaked bird; it is an awakening plea from the heart for all sentient beings who are victims of our global needs for oil. In essence all of us are victims of a myth of power, which with the peak of oil, has begun to disintegrate. The heart cries for renewal; a renewal acknowledging that we are an Earth Community, with innate understanding that allows all to see the interconnections between all forms of life. It is a renewal, which enables a transition into ages where the full flowering of the human species in communion with the earth and all her creatures can occur.
Eulogy for a Pelican
You soar through the air
A majestic creature of the Mother
One of the many
That lift my heart, and draw me into communion with the Spirit.
Slowly gliding over the waters of the Gulf
You are an image of beauty that has always awakened my soul
And now reminds me,
That you have been with me all of my life
Like the earth and all her creatures
Like the stars
Woven into the very fabric of my being
A part of my heart.
Slow flight of the Pelican
Soaring close to earth
Riding unseen currents of energy
That support this world,
You are no more, no less, than I.
Now trapped in oil’s greed you struggle to take flight
To escape the heaviness that surrounds and threatens so much of life.
My heart in communion with yours is also weighed down with oil
With the overwhelming abuse and violence
That we have unleashed in our world.
I weep today as you struggle,
As my heart seeks to understand
This unnamable foe.
Slow flight of the Pelican soaring over the Gulf waters
You are not the only endangered species
For when you die a piece of my soul dies with you,
And the soul is not expendable
If I am to live with the celebration of life in my heart
And seek to share this love with all.
Pelican, in days long gone you were once a cherished symbol of Christ,
Your blood fed your young.
Perhaps in some small way, though seemingly insignificant
In the face of Oil’s destructive power
Your crucifixion upon the Empire’s cross
Will awaken sleeping hearts,
And the soaring Pelican’s spirit blood
Will once more feed our souls.
Sherry Robertson June 4, 2010 “Incarnation”
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