Familiars

I just heard a terrible squawking. I looked down at the lawn, still half-green, with the occasional dandelion. Then I looked up at the very old, very tall tree outside my window, and saw a squirrel clambering up the trunk. Suddenly, three crows appeared, swooping in. They were chasing a hawk off one of the branches, wings touching, forcing the large brown and beige bird to lift off, empty clawed. The three cawed at it, chasing it away in formation until all four birds were out of sight. The squirrel went up to the crook of the tree, about 30 feet up. That’s where I think its nest is. I hope the babies, if there are any, are ok. This hawk was about five times the size of the squirrel so it may have been going after them.

I didn’t know what I wanted to write about this morning, then the three crows flying in formation, cawing angrily, appeared. Another minute in bed, and I would have missed it altogether. And their uncanny unison against a large, almost invisible intruder, as the hawk sat silently on the limb, matching the colors just enough – it seemed a perfect metaphor for what is happening in the world, both external and my internal perception of occurrence.

Firstly, their coordination shows that animals understand and communicate. The three were millimeters from each other, flying in just close enough to each other and the hawk and the tree and the squirrel. Secondly, it demonstrates that animals defend other species. The crows nest and sleep sometimes in another tree nearby, but while they may have felt the hawk was a trespasser, their actions were about a threat. And the squirrel right there. Animals can think. Animals can live in harmony. Animals can defend each other.

It seems to be only humans who can’t think, who only defend if it is of immediate benefit, or if there is money involved. Yes, humans can rise above petty greed and evil intent. But they need to be convinced. Those crows were a liberating force. President Macron did not talk to them. Senators from Massachusetts did not visit young, abducted squirrels and give a press conference to the crows.

I work at a place where they are actively advising staff not to protest. Policies apply to them too, you see, not just students. Not just faculty. They will not back people who want to speak out. I watch from the inside, as they try to make their version of things the only truth. I read their pronouncements, listen to their admonishments to recount the correct version of the truth, and I feel unclean.

We must work to help each other.

And for a moment, I envied the squirrel, having such crow friends and allies.