Some believe that competition is the key to unlocking a glorious future for humanity. They point to nature and say the strong survive by out-competing the weak. They think that Survival of the Fittest (often misattributed to Charles Darwin, but actually coined by Herbert Spencer) means survival of the strongest and most competitive. However, this is not true for evolution or human society. ‘Survival of the Fittest’ refers to the ability to adapt to one’s environment, not necessarily being the strongest or most competitive. As evidence, I offer these photos of the relationship between non-predator and prey creatures in the natural world.

The picture above shows two herons, a Little Bue and a Tri-color, hunting along a pond on Sportsman’s Road in Galveston. There was no competition between them. They were both doing their own thing. They went about their lives without needing to intimidate or chase off the other. It appears that greed and ego are not major components of the heron’s psyche as they are in the human world. They stuck to their hunt and took care of business, finding food. They were not competing, simply co-existing.

Here are a couple more “competitors,” a White Egret and a Willet. Once again, they are not prey to one another, so they let life evolve as it should. They each have adaptations that allow them to feed themselves in these rich, coastal waters. They have no need to compete and defeat the other.

Here, we find a small flock of Laughing Gulls taking a break on the Seawall on Galveston’s West End. And in the middle of that flock stands a single Ring-billed Gull hanging out with the smaller birds. Our culture wants us to believe the old saw that Birds of a feather flock together!” But here is proof that birds are not that exclusive. There is nothing that necessitates exclusivity among birds that is comparable to racism in the human species. A fish may not want to hang out with the gulls, but that is a predator/prey dynamic. Animals are often found in heterogeneous groups when they are not eating each other.

This young Great Blue Heron and Snowy Egret were hunting an old dock here on Rockport-Fulton Road. They were not bothered by the other’s presence and went on about living their best life and staying out of each other’s way. When the egret caught a fish, the heron did not rush over and try and snatch it. The heron patiently worked the deeper waters and found his own morsel. As I watched them, I suspected each bird was watching the other for success and then worked their way in that direction when the other had moved on.

This is a shot of a White Ibis after he moved in on a comfortable perch previously occupied by a pair of Blue Wing Teals. The ibis likely meant no malice toward the teals. It did not chase them off or aggressively “take over” the spot. Instead, the ibis relied on the wisdom of the teals that told them to not pick a fight they could not win. Yep, size matters in the animal world, and everyone accepts that as the law of the pond. After the ibis moved on, the teals regained their perch and continued their afternoon nap.

These Avocets and a Black-necked Stilt hang out together at Leonabelle Turnbull Nature Center in Port Aransas. These two species share the habitat and food supply but seem perfectly content with each other’s presence. The Avocets are napping in the afternoon sun, and the Stilt is taking a break from snacking on the worms and bugs in the mud. The other’s presence does not raise any alarms, and they are spending a relaxing afternoon together.

This is another Black-necked Stilt and Ring-billed Gull discussing his choice of landing spots. Like the Avocets in the previous picture, the Ring-billed Gull shares this habitat but feeds on different food sources. The Gull and mate are resting after their morning nosh and are too tired to get out of the Stilt’s way. The Gull suggests that the incoming Stilt was getting too close. This is literally called setting boundaries and is perfectly appropriate in a cooperative society. Many humans struggle with this boundary setting. It allows cooperation without competition. This is just one of many natural instances where creatures set boundaries to ensure peaceful coexistence.

Finally, we encountered this White Ibis and Black-bellied Whistling Duck at Lafitte’s Cove Nature Society on Galveston Island. The duck got too close, and the ibis gently reminded the duck about the boundary. The ibis made the point, and the duck changed course. They did not get into a fight about the boundary. The ibis did not attack any more than necessary. The duck did not resent the ibis’s action to protect itself. Their ability to set boundaries without conflict reassures us that peaceful coexistence is possible. In nature, creatures do not waste energy on ego or pride. We have much to learn from them.

Humans are not supposed to prey on one another. However, many view others as dangerous competitors who will prey on them. Adaptation and letting others live their lives are the key to life among the birds of the Gulf Coast. We should watch and learn about coexistence and boundary setting to unlock our peaceful future as it has for these gentle creatures. Apart from predators and prey, they go beyond simple survival. They are equally committed to life with and among one another. We have much to learn about life in the peaceable kingdom!

Peace!

Bob

The founding scientist at Jurassic Park is dumbfounded when he learns that his cloned dinosaurs have begun reproducing. He believed he had genetically altered their makeup to prevent that from happening. Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum), a scientist who studies chaos, responds to his confusion with a matter-of-fact declaration: “Life finds a way.” He then adds, “That’s the way it is!”

Life finds a way! Despite the odds stacked against it, life will adapt and find a way to survive. Individual organisms may not survive, but life itself will go on! That’s the way it is!” This is a cosmic truth rooted in the very fabric of the universe. Life plays a special role in creation. While it will eventually yield to the chaos of entropy, life stands nearly alone in delaying that final assault on the universe. As far as anything in the universe can be counted on, life will find a way. That is the way it is! This is as close to an eternal truth as we have ever discovered.

This truth came home to me one afternoon as we were walking on a boardwalk through the mudflats of the Indian Point Park outside of Corpus Christi. This creature was lurking in the brush, poking around for a meal in the mud. It is a Long-billed Curlew and is common along the Texas Coast. The bill is quite unique for birds in this area. There are several birds with long bills, though this is probably the longest on average. Most birds use their bills to probe the mud for tasty bits. But why is this bird’s bill curved? What evolutionary advantage could there be to this curved bill? What were this bird’s ancestors adapting to in order to develop this strangely shaped bill in future generations? Check out the picture below for a hint.

The curved bill allows the bird to get underneath the shrubs in the mud flats and probe beneath their roots. The rubbernecking enables them to seek out morsels of food that other birds would not be able to reach without expending a great deal of energy digging up the roots. Among these birds’ ancestors were a few birds that adapted their way of life, and evolution rewarded those who were best equipped and most successful in foraging among the roots. Thousands of generations later, we have the Long-billed Curlew thriving without having to compete with other birds for their food supply.

Life depends on this adaptability. We owe our existence on Planet Earth to adaptability. In fact, quantum mechanics suggests that life depends on adaptability to hold back the inevitable destiny of entropy. What is this magical ability called adapting? It is as simple as doing our best with what we have available.

We do not have to be perfect; we only have to do the best we can. When confronted with a challenge, we can become paralyzed by finding the perfect response. But this often leads to inaction and missed opportunities. Instead, a thoughtful response would seek the “best” response given the situation. Sometimes, these do not work out, and sometimes, they do. Regardless, we will have learned something for the next encounter with the challenge.

This involves relying on our tools and abilities and not waiting for something better to come along. Again, sometimes the tool or ability will serve us well, and sometimes it will not. In either situation, we will have learned something about what we need to address the challenge.

Adapting also involves accepting the world as it is and responding appropriately. People whose perceptions of the world around them are primarily shaped by their desires or fears will not adapt. They will be unable to accurately address their challenges. Adapting requires facing the world as it is and responding in kind. Otherwise, we are shadowboxing against a foe called reality who will kick our butt. By adapting to the real world, we learn and grow into creatures with a greater chance of survival in this world.

Next, we must trust that our best will be good enough in the short term. This is more than hoping for the best. If it is rooted in self-confidence, then that trust is more manageable, even while recognizing that falling short is always an option. Our trust sets aside the need to win every play and is satisfied with the long game, even if we are no longer on the field. If our best falls short, we will try something else. Adaptation is a process, and trust grows out of patience with the process.

We do our best with what we have. It is called adapting! Our Long-billed friend comes from generations of birds with slightly longer bills and a little more curved than their ancestors. In time, and I do not mean a mere lifetime, they evolved into the creature pictured above, who is able to find food that other birds could not reach. That is the power of adaptability and individual life.

Life has been doing this for nearly 14 billion years and, I suspect, will do so for the next several trillion years when the last bit of energy in the universe disperses into the final hot cloud of nothingness. In the meantime, life will find a way, and that’s the way it is!

“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.”  ~Yann Martel, Life of Pi

In the Fall of 2021, I checked off a bucket list item. I walked the streets of Jamestown, VA. This was not a visit to a place but an encounter with a time. I journeyed back to 1696 when James Emmanuel Dees arrived in Jamestown. He had traveled from Monikie, Angus, Scotland. He represented the last trickle of indentured servants who immigrated from Scotland to Virginia to start a new life.

At the time, Scotland was in turmoil between Protestant and Catholic, the English Monarch William of Orange, and the Jacobites who wanted a return to the Stuart line and a Scottish King. Political, religious, and economic uncertainty made it difficult for a 20-year-old man to establish himself. The landowners in Virginia were still paying a few people to travel from Scotland and pay off their passage with seven years of labor on the tobacco plantations. However, the practice was dying as the plantation owners found the enslavement of Africans to be more profitable. Enslavement meant they could “breed” their labor supply rather than rely on poor people from Europe. A young Emmanuel stepped off the ship at the Jamestown Harbor. He began his 7 years of service to Thomas Nesham and established himself and his name in North America.

In 1921, when we arrived at Historic Jamestown, I felt a sense of kinship with my 6th Great-Grandfather and the journey he had completed 227 years before. I doubt that he was thinking about the next two centuries. He was intent on shaking off the uncertainty of Scotland and was ready to embrace his new home here on the James River. He was surrounded by people from Scotland, Wales, England, the Dutch Republic, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Switzerland, and France. They had all come seeking new lives, free from the chaos of the old country. They worked together, intermarried, and became part of a great Western migration that would continue for the next 150 years. They established villages and towns across Appalachia and beyond. They became the vast working class of farmers, housewives, tradespeople, merchants, and soldiers. They built homes and schools, shops and saloons, courthouses and churches. They became the vast middle class of the American South.

Many met and married people whose families had immigrated through New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and the Texas Gulf Coast. Even though their ancestors had turned their backs on Europe, they brought many of the same attitudes and beliefs that fostered the chaos, uncertainty, and bloodshed that caused Emmanuel and his cohort to leave.

They remained unrepentant racists despite seeing first-hand the cruelty of the enslavement of Africans. They served as Overseers on plantations and supported the capture and return of people who sought freedom through escape. Later, they would apply these attitudes and treatment to Mexicans, Vietnamese, and every immigrant group that followed them to these shores, seeking refuge from the uncertainty of their own homeland.

They became the backbone of small towns across the South doing, in the words of George Bailey, ”…most of the living and dying…” They became our Great-grandparents, Grandparents, Parents, Uncles and Aunts, Sunday School Teachers, Auto Mechanics, Public School Teachers, Civil Servants, and everyone else who was part of our growing up. They struggled to pay the bills, raise their families, and make life better for their children. They did not recognize their privilege in society. Still, they fiercely defended their way of life, declaring they lived in the “greatest country the world had ever known.”

They were saints and sinners. They were “just folks” making their way in a new world. Like their ancestors, they did their best as they saw it at the time and went to their graves with both regret and gratitude. And, like their descendants, they had neither the wisdom nor inclination to give their ancestors absolution for not solving all the problems that would plague their children and grandchildren. Among them were eight generations of people named Dees who made their way through North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas in pursuit of a better life for themselves and their children. A few would scatter a bit further afield, but the core of the family became part of the small towns along the way. Those same small towns became part of their identity. They found their place, for good or ill, among the other children of immigrants from Europe.

Emmanuel and his descendants were with me as I walked across the boardwalk over the Back River Estuary that separates Jamestown from the mainland. When I reached Jamestown proper, I walked the old streets of Jamestown. I listened to the voices of new arrivals as they explored their new home. I heard them bartering for a room and a meal. I hear Emmanuel introduce himself to Mr. Nesham’s Overseer. I could hear people telling their stories to anyone who would listen, looking for connections “back home.” There were a few tears over family left behind and laughter when connections were made with other immigrants.

As I made my way to the wharf where Emmanuel first stepped ashore, I heard the rattle of carts carrying goods from Europe and the hesitant shuffle of footsteps, unsure of where they needed to go. The salty air smelled of fresh fish and people who had not bathed in weeks. The dusty streets were filled with a bustling city, the capital of Virginia. A church bell rang on the corner. As the new arrivals blended into the busy population, their “differences” melted away, and they became citizens of a new city and future nation. All it took was for them to step off the boat, and they were welcomed “home” as long as they did their best to fit in.

My trip to Jamestown has helped me understand that I, too, am an immigrant. These are not my ancestral lands. I am the recipient of the gift of a home because of a man named James Emmanuel and the thousands of people like him who sought a new life in a new country. They were fortunate to find people who shared their language, skin color, and history to welcome them. They did not endure becoming commodities bought and sold in slave markets. They were offered the dignity of what a later generation would call “inalienable Rights.” My citizenship in the United States of America grows out of this gift of a home paid for with the lives of James Emmanuel, Toby, Maria, Nguyen, and countless others. I respect their gift when I recognize it as a gift. I honor it most profoundly when I welcome others seeking out our shores for the same reasons: to provide a better life for themselves and their children.

There was no whispering involved on this day in Historic Jamestown. They and their modern-day counterparts in Laredo, San Diego, and Miami cried out to me with every step I took along the James River that day.

History is crying out to us! Are we listening?

Bob

Generally, in this blog, I offer words describing what I have heard from the presence that surrounds us. Today, however, I invite you to listen with your eyes and heart as the presence speaks to you through these images. Listen well, my friends. There is wisdom all around us!

Many believe wisdom is a rare commodity and only rises from deep wells of human thought after years of study and academic discipline. Others experience wisdom as the uncommon ability to see the world as it is, unclouded by too much “book learnin.” But I believe wisdom is a very common part of life in the universe. It is evident to those who have the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the heart to receive it. How common is it? I experienced several lifetimes of wisdom during a visit to a midwestern zoo last year. Meet the sages of the Cincinnati Zoo, my friends, the Bonobos.

Pappa Bonobo regularly patrols his glass-encased Kingdom, comfortable in knowing that his family is safe and secure in their glass-encased realm.

The young ones explore their world, looking for whatever treasure awaits them!

They meet challenges, solve puzzles, and discover new things to learn!

When it becomes overwhelming, they lean on some shavings and gaze into their tomorrow.

They also make time for a snack to make the day sweeter!

Meanwhile, Mama keeps a watchful eye, celebrating the young ones growing into their lives.

Then, there is the philosopher in the family…

…pondering things too wonderful for words….

… knowing there is more than can ever be understood…

… but able to rest easy, savoring their life’s sweetness in their little Kingdom.

Life is good! It is all about caring for those we love, watching them grow, exploring, questioning, challenging, discovering all our world offers, and then having the time to sit back and ponder.

Would they change things if they could? Probably. But they did not let their desires disturb their lives in their little realm. They live fully and completely in their world. What more can any of us ask out of our days?

Such wisdom comes to those who have grown into their mind, body, and soul! All we must do is stop, look, and listen! (Hint: the occasional snack and nap will help as well.)

Blessings, my friends.

Bob