On today’s walk about my neighborhood I discovered a Christmas tree already abandoned for pickup. I also heard a murder of rowdy crows and later saw someone walking a tri-pawed little dog.
These photos are all the same tree, but each picture looks a little different. It’s all a matter of perspective.
My first thought on seeing this already-discarded tree by the curb was that someone is no nonsense about the holidays being over when they’re over. I imagined someone adhering to an inflexible calendar. But of course, I have no way to know why it’s been put out at least two days before it can even be picked up. I can imagine a dozen scenarios. The family usually leaves it up longer, but we’re leaving on a trip. That’s another possibility.
What we experience is such a small part of the world that surrounds us, but many of us–myself very much included–tend to fill in blanks with suppositions and stories to explain why, often never discovering if we were anywhere in the mark. We can fool ourselves into believing we know more than we do. All the information I really have is this: a green Christmas tree lay in the street — nothing about who put it there or when or why.
Likewise, my senses told me the crows were particularly loud today in one part of my community. I have no idea what was driving their behavior. Maybe they were having an argument or discussing where to find food. Perhaps a predator was stalking one of their nests.
Then the tri-pawed dog. So many questions. The missing limb was the rear right, and the little cutie seemed to be getting along pretty well, looking happy, which led me to believe it’s been missing that leg for awhile. I could have asked some questions of its human, but I’m shy.
I’ll bet I passed at least a thousand interesting stories today in my 40-minute walk without even realizing it. My mind can keep itself endlessly entertained spinning yarns about why I’m seeing or hearing the things around me. And this is pretty harmless, keeping it all in my brain as I have my little perambulation.
But for some reason, it’s been in my thoughts a lot lately that we can let it get dangerous, drawing conclusions and then assuming they’re correct without bothering to verify. I think it’s important for all of us to be able to draw the distinction between what we can see (the tiniest part of the picture) and know to be true vs. what we imagine to be the case. I’m working on it in myself.
However, if I ever come up with a coherent story incorporating the tree and the crows and the dog, I will share it here, being sure to label it fiction.
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Nomadic Noesis 