why birds?
[Migrated from my original blog, "Mockingbirds Nest Here."]
mockingbirds nest here.
I love that quote by Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my favorite books of all time – that the only thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience. This is so true. I often think of my own personal research and inquiry as a series of images and themes, that somehow materialize in the mist of something greater – an idea, a concept, a teaching unit, an activity, and then I write about it in my head. I never put pen to paper. My conscience and ideas over the years as an educator has gotten the better of me. It has gotten me into lengthy discussions with colleauges, disagreements over philosophy and pedagogy, reminders about the noise in my classroom and the raised eyebrows (supposedly) of parents. However, look at what Atticus so wisely said one more time: he mentions the revolt against majority rule. And who says majority has to be or is best? For my classroom? For my profession? For kids? For my pedagogy and research? My conscience is strong. And my faith links up beside it to guide me with the wisdom I need and the serenity I desire after my choices. So I rise. And I fly. Every day.
Birds are an important image to me for a variety of reasons. Atticus FINCH. To kill a MOCKINGBIRD. BLACKBIRD by the Beatles. My nieces are like little BIRDS when they play and flit in their daily lives of peace and chatter and innocent bliss.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night: spread your broken wings and learn to fly. You were always waiting for your moment to arrive. Blackbird, fly. Blackbird, fly. Into the light of a dark black night. ~The Beatles~
In life, we are often confronted with challenges and risks and dangers that threaten our nests. We might think we should roost up, stay a while, protect the eggs, never leave. Sometimes, a great fire burns up our work, our concerns, our decisions, our possessions, our ideas, our relationships. That fire leaves a pile of ashes that just might blow away with the right puff of wind. Oh to have the wings of a phoenix, to rise from the ashes, and with tears that can heal any wound. To me, part of being a teacher is being a phoenix. Even when I feel like a blackbird.
I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. ~Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird~
But I look at my little birds, my little nieces, when they play – they chirp and squeal, dance and laugh, and tell the greatest stories, like “Aunt Molly, we gotta feeling but you missed it” [about her favorite song “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas]. They inspire me to spring my wings and fly up to the highest branch, and rather than roost comfortably, to just sing my heart out with caution thrown to the wind and my feathers all a-ruffle. I even wrote about them to express that most birds would rather sing than sleep.
And so it is. The mockingbirds nest here. But we do sing. We don’t roost comfortably and we don’t worry about who our conscience bothers. And we will continue to ask the questions and search for the answers, and believe that the “holy contour of life,” as Kerouac so eloquently put, will show us the way. And guess what?
You are not alone. We are a choir of mockingbirds.
Sing with me.
“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.
“Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
~Chapter 10, To Kill a Mockingbird~
Teachers should see themselves with a “moral imperative to protect the vulnerable.”* To protect the mockingbirds, blackbirds, and all. Even when you don’t feel much like a phoenix.
*I actually found this quote on SparkNotes. Amazing.
