Efficacious Com-Petition:
The Kookaburra and the Heron

Sunday afternoon, April 28, 2002

Dear friends:

I just came from an important life-lesson. My teachers were birds of prey - and two wonderful women who care for them. They taught one of the great lessons of life itself - that there is great value in competition, but equally great value in collaboration.

These teachers came from Wind Over Wings, Inc., "a nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation organization dedicated to returning wildlife back to the wild when viable, and to educating and inspiring those who wish to protect wildlife on the Earth." One of the women began with an apology to the children who had been told by advance publicity that they would be meeting a kookaburra, a bird from Australia. Her explanation still rings in my mind.

We decided to leave the kookaburra back in its habitat (which they have created in Clinton, Connecticut). Last night we were asked to adopt a heron, which normally feeds on fish. But this heron was so terrified of captivity that the bird refused to eat and was starving itself to death. When we put the heron and the kookaburra together, the heron saw the kookaburra getting fish to eat, and immediately the heron felt the competition of another bird and started to fish to make sure it got its share. Of course, there are plenty of fish for both of them, but the terrified heron needed to feel the competition from the kookaburra to save its life.

The key word here is competition. The key to understanding the word is to trace it back to its Latin roots. COM means "with" - and PETERE means, "to ask for, to strive for, to seek." True competition means, "to seek together." The kookaburra and heron were "competing" for fish. But that was the surface truth. The deeper truth is that they were striving to get sustenance for their lives. Their competition was, in fact, life giving.

This would have been enough life-learning for the day, but at the very end of the program one of these marvelous women taught the other half of the great lesson of life. She held a golden eagle, the king of all eagles, and, therefore, the king of all birds. She told us that the golden eagle had been the symbol of Imperial Rome. This bird's name was Skywalker.

One of the children asked if the bird had ever hurt her. "No, we have learned to trust one another." She then explained that when they first took responsibility for the bird's life, it had been shot in the right wing, which was subsequently amputated. Skywalker was frightened and angry and would not allow any human to come close. But slowly, very slowly, over a matter of two years, they shared the same space until Skywalker had enough security to come close. At some point he allowed himself to be touched - first, just with a bird feather, and eventually by a person. She looked at this majestic bird and said, "Now we work as a team to teach the world that all creatures could live together in peace."

And with that Skywalker snuggled up under her chin.

Sincerely,

Bill