Remember this: When you take something for granted it becomes extinct forever or disappears until you regard it with respect. Nothing is an endless resource if it’s not honored, nurtured, or revered. Not even you.
I was trying to talk myself out of going to this appointment. I was being lazy and avoiding. It was an appointment that would probably last under thirty minutes. It was slightly rainy but after nay saying for about four hours I decided to go. My truck was having problems so I borrowed another. I left for my appointment which lasted only thirty minutes. The person I was seeing was very pleased with my progress and told me great job. I left. On the way back toward the interstate I was thinking how silly I was for being lazy. I wanted to stay at home to hide in the house. I was driving down this country two lane highway which abutted a high bank on a river that was loaded with hardwoods. Just before getting to this area I looked over in this field covered in green on the fringe of a group of pine trees. I saw a dark turkey. I could see him good enough because the chest was gold colored. I then thought what did a momentary vision of this turkey bring to me? How did my seeing the turkey apply to my situation at that time or in the future?
This turkey was on the edge of the woods undoubtedly grazing for bugs or seed. Wild creatures like soft curves.
If I were a bird that others preyed on I would stay just near the edge of the woods so I could make a break for it if something came my way that wanted to make me dinner. At that moment the turkey looked pretty relaxed. It was also by itself or so it always seems while his companions are in the tree line.
Turkeys where I live disappear late in the evening when they are breeding to go into the woods where they begin to nest. Most get up in the trees but will be stealthy and quiet. You may walk right under them and not know it if you don’t know that is where they stay. I have also seen turkey herds migrate from a middle area of farm land situated in oak groves then move deeper into a swamp/grassland riddled by hardwoods later in the summer. I have seen them walk right through a swamp that is moist picking worms, grubs, and bugs all the way to the other side. I have seen turkey crouching down in a thicket because the hawks can’t get them and its good cover. They can see you either way so terrain makes no difference to them. There is always a sentinel lurking where you can’t see them. It’s when they are solitary that you are more apt to strike them down. I have seen turkey fly up in trees, walk up hill, and downhill or crawl on their belly. Deer do this to.
Turkeys are prone to imprinting where they identify with their own kind and can’t be reversed once done. Baby poults learn to freeze or hide beneath the mother. This can be applied to people that do not learn to act in healthy ways within a social group. These people may tend to feel out of sorts with the others basically because they do not know how to be as the others are. This doesn’t mean sacrificing individuality but more of a social interaction that brings about happiness and camaraderie. As a healthy person develops they will know the difference between safety and harm but some individuals only know how to react to a constant fear whether it is real or not by this ‘freeze’ mechanism. Of course there are the other two options of Flight or Fight which freeze has been added. When you watch people you can see this in extremes in the unhealthy individual. Does this mean they are crazy? No. They just need someone to mentor them and reteach them something they may not have learned appropriately in the beginning because they were taught by adults or others that didn’t know themselves. One can see where dysfunction is pass down through families. Once you are enlightened by someone or your behavior has become so disabling-you seek help for direction on how you can solve this problem yourself. It will not work until the seeker decides there is something amiss and needs change. Babies learn and it is from the parents and family first. If there is an existing social discretion, that is where the babies are first exposed. If there is no one to help them learn how to interact with others not already in their set group of people they feel as if they are outsiders walking in a world of unapproachable and potentially harmful strangers.
With turkey poults by the second day they are performing what would be considered the adult characteristics of feeding, movement, and grooming behaviors but still learning. This is because there is always the potential for predators. Human people do not have this worry. Because of the passing down of dysfunctional behaviors from parent to child the likelihood the parent will always perceive the child in an adult way is likely. How many times have children been put in situations where they are to act as adults or make decisions like an adult would? Maybe they are not ready? Some would argue that ‘my parents did that to me and I didn’t die’ but when you look at the train wreck or depressive life they live it will soon be reflected in the life of their children unless they decide to seek some guidance to have a better life. Children usually internalize their confused feelings that eventually come out as explosive confrontations or outright ignorances of their feelings. Most parents disregard or dismiss their children's problems because they don't see the belief that the child thinks their situations are stressful or serious versus the adult's interpretation of it. These days children are pushed quicker to learn because of the competition element of life, learning, and money making. They enjoy little of their childhood unless they have a parent that thinks that is not a waste of time or put adult demands on the youth. People learn how to develop in stages. If one of those stages is disrupted or skewed the mental and physical health of the child may be at risk for things like depression, suicidal tendencies, and lack of identity. What if you were a turkey that hatched somehow and your parent died then you had to figure out what it was to be a turkey while your turkey herd did not accept you and drove you off? Or you never saw yourself as a turkey at all? I can only imagine how confusing that is for people in general trying to find their way in the world.
Turkey poults go through rapid development and they develop a series of survival mechanism. People do this to and acting as the baby turkey bird is one of them. It keeps you safe from threat or at least a false sense of security. If I don’t move I won’t get eaten. Then again depends on which brain chemical you experience. You could fight or flee. Who knows what you’ll do because this optional mechanism could change depending on the level of the threat.
I read that habitat is key to wildlife survival. That goes for people to. If you are living in a poisonous habitat it is going to depress you, ruin you, hold you back, or even kill you.
You have to learn this concept. The crux of Your personal management. You require five things at most.
1. Food
2. Water
3. Shelter
4. Space
5. Arrangement
Turkey have different areas for different life stages based around seasonal habits. If your habitat sucks feel free to move in and out of it. You moving around will put you in a better position to meet the people that can help you or at least support your endeavors. Turkey like to go to the clover areas. Find the area that will feed you and support your creativity, happiness, or calm. If your home or work habitat is cluttered, dirty, or the ‘anger area’ it is not conducive or productive to you. Its distracting and could drain the energy right out of you. Do as the turkey. Find that green field where you can relax, strut around, and show people what you are made of. Be glorious! Stomp your turkey feet and thunder like the thunder chicken. Be badass.
The first weeks of a poults’ life is when they are most susceptible to predators then it could be safe to say that the early years when children are in transition between child and adult maybe the most crucial. They don’t know who ‘I am’ therefore could be mimicking other children that are confused themselves. That is why adults should mentor them. Teach them the ropes where they are functioning adults that can sustain other would be adults. Everyone is a parent and a teacher regardless of biological affiliation.
If a turkey is smart enough to pick a brood site that encourages the poult to thrive based on what that habitat can provide as nourishment and ease of teaching while the adult birds are monitoring the poult themselves is genius. These older birds will pick an area where the poults can act as ninjas moving through grasses and shrubs while invisible to predators and unprotected by the older birds so they can learn to act alone versus running gang busters through an open field.
Another aspect the turkey can teach you is to ‘remove your predators’. Predators are people that can aggravate you, make you physically ill, and eat you out of happiness and home. Remove these people. They will not change if they do it will be well after you invite them to leave you because that is their wake up call.
I believe Turkey should have been the Choice bird of the country. The turkey is called the Earth Eagle then why not? This bird is associated with Mother Earth. In my readings the turkey has been called the Give-away Eagle due to tribal members bestowing all possessions to and makes others sacrifice to help the people. Those who claimed more than their due was regarded as selfish and those who were poor or feeble were treated with honor. Turkeys have always represented abundance and fertility where one must give gratitude for your life in general.
I remember the first time I saw full turkey feather regalia. I was at this really small local pau wau in August. It was nestled back in this wooded grove. In the center was a circle made of hay bales with an entrance in one way. You were not supposed to cross over the circle but only go in at the entrance. Several men were dancing around but then this tall man came in and started dancing around by himself. His feathers seem to move with the beat of the drums. His face was painted black and white while his turkey feathers moved about like water. It was awe inspiring that turkey feathers had a second life.
I googled to find these words tacked on to the noble Thunder Chicken:
Pride
Abundance
Generosity
Awareness
Virility
Fertility
Sacrifice
Foretelling
Havest
New beginnings
Cycles
Preparation
Renewal
I usually take the odd random sighting of animals, birds, reptiles, fish, and plants as some message (where it comes from doesn’t matter as long as you get it). I was thinking this was one of those moments where I should be grateful for whatever I have been blessed with whether it is good or bad. Either way, I will get some lesson out of it. I read that it is also a message to express strengths and brilliance. I do want to be aware of how my life is lived from this point on. There is no need for me to suffer or lack human interaction. If I see someone that needs help or direction I have experience to offer if they want to take it. Nothing much was ever done by force except more fighting. I would hope that seeing this Thunder Chicken means that there will be better days on the horizon for me and whomever I touch. If I am about to cycle into new beginnings then bring it on. I have been preparing for quite a while trying to be patient so that moments of renewal will come to me and others even though we as people have to sacrifice a lot to get to a livable point in life.
It’s time to show our plumage and reveal the true self.
Written by: W Harley Bloodworth
~Courtesy of the AOFH~
