Wild Geese on a March Morning

Reading Mary Oliver on St. Patrick’s Day

photo by the author

The geese called from a distance in such great numbers, the dog went to the corner of the yard to listen. We watched them approach from the south in a huge arc across the sky. All I could do was turn my poor cell phone to the sky and snap one insufficient photo.

I thought of Mary Oliver, because who doesn’t in the face of wild geese?

I thought of a conversation from yesterday, in which a friend asked my opinion about someone who is bullying them. What was the bully’s motivation? What was their goal?

It seemed to me that the bully wanted to be perceived as righteously just, as heroic for their condemnation of others. They reminded me of the mayor from the movie Chocolat, and called to mind the triumphant rebuttal of the compassionate priest in his Easter Sunday sermon:

“Listen, here’s what I think. I think that we can’t go ‘round measuring our goodness by what we don’t do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think we’ve got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.”