Pine Nuts with McAvoy Layne: Drawing down in 2023
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Sun, 10/15/2023 - 5:50pm
Some of us are not as wise as others, and some are not as old as others, but all of us can agree that killing each other to solve our problems is out of date.
Not that long ago we could grab an adversary by the beard and slap some sense into him, but that problem solver is outdated today when we can simply blow him up with a drone along with his immediate family and any neighbors who might casually know him.
Yet aware as we are that killing is not a good solution to any problem, we continue to embrace killing like it is the only solution.
I happen to have two wild Nevada Jays who land on my deck every morning for breakfast, again at noon for lunch, and five o’clock for happy hour, when I give them a Beer Nut.
I affectionally call them Huckleberry and Emmeline. Initially they fought over the first Beer Nut I would place out on the rail, and I thought one might someday kill the other, but over time, and with an occasional straight-arm-shiver from me, they learned to share, and violence ceased to exist in our little world.
Huckleberry soon enough took to banging on the window with his beak whenever I slept in, and would do just about anything to get my attention, including faking his own death. Yes, I looked out the window one afternoon and there he was, on his back on the deck, with his wings flayed-out and his head rolled to one side. Of course I rushed out shouting, “Huckleberry,” to wit he jumped up as if to ask, “Got any Beer Nuts on you?!
I guess what I’m getting to is that I think my two wild Nevada Jays are wiser than we are. Huckleberry & Emmeline have learned that violence is not a productive problem solver, and in fact is counterproductive.
So my question this morning is, if two wild Nevada Jays can learn to get along in their worldly pursuits, might it be possible for us two-legged animals to learn the same?
Humans are slow learners to be sure. Our perennial wars are usually instigated by those who have never been in a war zone, and have no idea, and no regard, for the suffering and grief that war exacts on families and communities.
Our edict to those with the power and the arms to declare war is, “Invoking violence will starve your soul and torment your conscience without solving your conceived problem.”
At this point in time, Huckleberry and Emmeline are wiser than Mr. Putin and whomever called the shots to attack Israel, and so the pressing question that we face today might be, are we wise enough to prevent an escalation of firepower that might quickly spiral into an apocalyptic World War III?
Where have you gone, Abraham Lincoln? Our world turns its lonely eyes to you.
“With malice toward none, with charity for all.”
— For more than 35 years, in over 4,000 performances, columnist and Chautauquan McAvoy Layne has been dedicated to preserving the wit and wisdom of “The Wild Humorist of the Pacific Slope,” Mark Twain. As Layne puts it: “It’s like being a Monday through Friday preacher, whose sermon, though not reverently pious, is fervently American."
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