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Every year in August and early September, mournful kazoo-like sounds distract me from work in my home office. Without even looking up, my heart does a little empathy flip. The sound is a baby crow trying to understand why it’s mama and papa are no longer feeding it.

Now whether you like crows or not (and they seem to be more fashionable lately, thanks in part to Crow Planet, which I adored), this scenario has got to pull at your heart strings a little.  I find myself thinking “Just give him a goddamn french fry already! Its not like you didn’t steal them from my neighbor’s dumpster anyway! Poor thing.”

But the parent crow remains coolly oblivious to the pleading, eating the entire french fry/soiled cardboard/carrion right in front of it’s progeny. You’d think crows are terrible parents, but they’re one of the most doting, family-oriented birds in the animal kingdom.

In order for the baby to have any chance of survival (and most crows die before they reach their first birthday) the parent has to let go. The baby crow doesn’t understand this, of course, and I project s/he feels abandoned and terrified. And hungry.

Puts me in mind of the many times I’ve felt the same way – lost, scared, fresh out of faith in the world. Hungry for love and comfort. When I can get quiet and pay close attention during those times, I remember that these feelings lead to a greater sense of spaciousness and peace than I’ve felt before, a clearing out and letting go that was absolutely necessary for a big leap that I didn’t know I was capable of making.

Maybe the parent crow is silently beaming through the barrage of pleading “I have faith in you – I know you can do it – go find your own food so you can come back to us!”

Is the universe sending you a message of faith that you’ve been mis-translating? Tell me all about it.

Mom
September 17, 2010 at 6:49 am  - Reply

You brought me to tears again, daughter. The timeliness of this blog is uncanny (I’ll give you more details if you call me).

Thank you so much. I am listening for distressed crow sounds this very minute.

Jenn
September 17, 2010 at 7:52 pm  - Reply

nicely done, once again. thanks for the reminder. whether i am the mom or baby crow, this is good advice!

janet
September 21, 2010 at 2:06 pm  - Reply

Oh, this is so wonderfully expressed. I probably gave into my baby crow far too many times. However, she does have her wings– having flown to Boston to work in a community health center and hopefully roots– coming home for Thanksgiving.
Thank you for the reminder to let my baby crow continue to fly even when I might, well, worry and want to do things for her.
So nicely done, Jill.

Kristen
September 23, 2010 at 6:04 pm  - Reply

Jill,

You are a beautiful and insighful writer. Keep up the good work!

Kristen