Deceit, Dishonesty and Abortion
May 13, 2022
When last we talked the subject was more or less, the difference between “Deceit and Dishonesty”. Frankly, I was having trouble deciding if there was really a difference. I’m still having the same problem.
But, I promised that today we would take a look at “ABORTION” to see if we could determine the right and wrong of it. Like you, my mind has been wrapped around the issue for some time, and frankly, I just don’t see why it is that everyone doesn’t see it the way I do. But they don’t, and before we set camp one place or another, we’d better get not just our noses into it, but probably as much of the rest of our bodies and minds that are still bendable enough to be objective. But, as this is an opinion column (mine), let’s ease into it gradually. I have a story I’ve been anxious to share with you. It’s about the Say’s Phoebes who have been living at the Topmiller’s house for several seasons. It goes like this, try to visualize.
From our backdoor to our carport we have a covered walkway. To carry the weight of the rafters, we have installed a beam for the length of the walkway. Visualize a horizontal double beam. For whatever reason, that is where the Phoebes decided to build their nest last year. Ornithologists will tell you that it is for protection from above that they do this. It sounds reasonable to me, but that is surely not the only protection they would need to secure their brood. And the story goes. Our Phoebes built their nest on the rafter above the vertical 4” x 4” post which was supporting the beam. Much to my shame, not thinking, I leaned a folding chair against the post to get it out of the sun. Early the next morning our cats found that they could climb to the top of the chair and leap to the nest and drag it down, with the ready to hatch eggs. Dona called me out that morning to see the tragedy. The Mother Phoebe, unwilling to leave her unborn babies, perched on the yard fence only a few feet away, and mourned with the most heartbreaking cry. Some would say, “Com’on, it is only a bird.” Yes, you could say that, but if you had been there and heard the cry, you wouldn’t say it. Even though not yet born, the mother was grieving her loss. Would a human Mother do less? Her grief and determination was not in vain, they found a new home, a bird house I built from a hollow tree stump, that I hung from a pinon tree. As far as we know, they overcame to continue life’s intended cycle. The “Rest of the Story” goes like this: once again they have returned to almost the same location on the same beam, thinking by now I should have learned enough to keep things away from the posts. Creatures of the wild, mostly, cherish the cycle of reproduction and regeneration. Strange isn’t it, that there are things we can learn from them?
There is another story that I am anxious to share. It’s about a Fool’s Quail. Some call it a Fool’s Quail because it doesn’t flush at the first sign of danger. But it has other names as well – Mearns, Harlequin and Montezuma Quail. One spring day I was on my ATV out in the woodsy meadows looking for a section corner to complete a survey I was working on. I could see it in the distance. A GLO brass cap section corner on a short iron post. I glided up fairly close to the marker and was about to step off of the AT A covey of Fool's Quail.
V when, just in time, I noticed just beyond the marker in a small clearing a pair of adult Fool’s Quail with a new hatch of eight. I was accidentally so close that I was sure they would flush. But no, the Mother quail seemed to know that the chicks could not fly yet, so I got to watch the most amazing thing. The mother quail, ignoring the potential danger, gathered the chicks into a group, divided them into two groups, exactly four and four, with that she took one group and went one way and the male quail took the other group and went the other way, leaving no chance that the whole covey could be exterminated.
I will tell you one more story, similar to the bird stories, but with a deer. I got up early one morning to the bleat of a young fawn. I could see not far away a coyote was trying to attack the fawn and the mother was no where to be seen. I grabbed my pistol for the defense of the fawn and dropped into a small canyon in an effort to sneak up behind the coyote. As I sneaked along the canyon I heard a noise behind me. Screeching to a stand still only a few feet from me was the Mother deer, her look assured me that she was ready to put her life in danger to protect her fawn. It was a predicament for me. I knew that I could have legally shot the coyote, but not the deer unless she attacked. If you know much about deer, you know that their front hooves are sharp and can cut you deep. Just in the nick of time, the fawn bleated again and Mother deer was on her way to take on the coyote. How many times I have asked myself, do the birds or the animals ever consider abortion a valid option? The next time we get together we will discuss “A woman’s Right’s to her body.” “Women have commonly, a very positive moral sense, that which they will is right; that which they reject is wrong; and their will in most cases, ends by settling the moral. “The Education of Henry Adams” Henry Adams 1907.
“And That’s My Opinion”
