March 2006
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A Matter of Health
A moment's pause
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The possum was so regal... |
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The elderly menagerie of animals with which my children left me is fairly sedate – particularly in the morning, after the walk and their breakfast. Their snores emanate from the cushions in the corner of the room where they sleep obediently until we go to work and they can jump on the couches and beds.
That is why the sudden raucous barking of our miniature dachshunds took me by surprise as I poured my second cup of coffee and perused the New York Times science section. I turned to see what had gotten their attention. Perched on the silvered privacy fence was a large placid opossum – or as we say in Texas, possum.
Despite the yapping dogs jumping at the foot of the high fence, it did not seem in a hurry. It slowly surveyed the surrounding scenery, turning its head around and ignoring the tumult below.
It was one of those moments that transcend urban reality. The possum was so regal and sublimely unaware of the sound of cars, sirens and dogs.
I stopped for a moment, just to watch. I forgot that I needed to get to work and that my hair was not yet dry. I even forgot where I was.
I'm sure during that time that my heart rate slowed and my blood pressure went down. Certainly, the "to-do list" that constantly circulates through my brain stopped for a moment. I was lost in the magic of a wild animal so supremely alive in the middle of the urban jungle.
That is when I realized how important it is to take notice of these moments. They are a salve to the spirit. Often we become so caught up in the rigor of our own busy lives that we ignore the world around us.
Sometimes, I worry about the cell phone and Ipod generation. You see them every day with the plugs attached to their ears, drowning out the activities of the world around them. You smile, and they do not even see you because they are lost in some other audio reality. I wonder what could be so important or consuming about what they are hearing.
In some cases, of course, we know they are endangering their hearing. I wonder if they are not endangering their own connections with reality. Whom could they be calling who is so much more important than the person walking next to them? What message from the Ipod overrides the sound of the birds and the insects and their fellow human beings?
Every morning, as I drive to work, I stop at one particular light and exchange a smile with the man who sells papers. He's there in the heat and the cold; the rain and the wind. It cannot be a pleasant life, but his smile brightens my day. I hope mine does the same for him. I worry when I do not see him. My fellow travelers, however, often are oblivious to his presence because they are so consumed by their cell phones and the high-powered stereos that exude bass beats to the rest of us.
Community and health go together. People who are part of the world around them tend live in it more healthily than those who hide from it behind video and audio blinders. Perhaps it is time to take the plugs out of our ears and the self-imposed blinders from our vision and enjoy our fellow human beings and other living creatures. Even the possum needs to take more notice. As I watched, the dogs lost interest, but our big white and charcoal cat leapt atop the fence and began that slow, stealthy glide toward the feral creature.
Enough! I opened the glass door and yelled, "Shoo." The cat whirled and gave me a furious green-eyed stare. And the possum looked at me for a moment, then turned and ambled on down the fence.
| A Matter of Health | |
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A moment's pause |
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