Indulge me,
if you will. Imagine that Dr Lascelles
is right, that the tui and the bellbirds, the grey warblers and blackbirds are
essential in the ‘labyrinth of life’. That
their dawn calls create vibrations that enliven other organisms. All life responds
to the resonance created by another creature, said Dr Lascelles.
Madness? Stay
with me. Remember that day, when you woke early from a festering sleep. Eyes gritty,
you stumbled to the kitchen. Your computer blinked into life and there it was,
the draft email, a litany of your accusations. In the small hours, you had crafted
the perfect final phrase - “If I am no
longer on the team, then please overcome your managerial ineptitude and find the
courage and integrity to tell me in person.” Enlivened by early morning coffee, you
highlighted ineptitude, and replaced
it with incompetence. Oh yes, better. Your heart thrilled at his certain
humiliation, which would surely be inevitable when you finally clicked SEND.
And then, as
the sky lightened fractionally, you heard the call of a single tui. And where a
moment before your heart raced with bloodlust, now something stirred in a
quieter place. You stood, and, coffee in
hand, moved to the window. Across the
paddocks, behind the macrocarpas, the horizon was edged in apricot. The tui called again, answered by a bellbird. Breathing deeply, the better part of you
stood a little taller. You opened the
door and came face to face with Doubt. Perhaps this wasn’t the way. You felt
the lick of a warm breeze, and a pair of twittering blackbirds joined the
chorus. Perhaps another offer to talk, one
more chance.
Whatever you
do in life has resonance, said Dr Lascelles.
Nothing happens in isolation.
How do you
explain returning to the computer, clicking SAVE and instead, writing a story? Something like this one; not true, but
nonetheless, truth.
Rosemary McBryde
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