Pelican
What
Responsibility Do YOU Have For
Your Illnesses?
Article By
Karl
Loren's Encounter
With A Hungry Pelican
I mean a real, live, hungry Pelican?
pelican
North America ranges from the NW U.S. to the Gulf and
Florida coasts. It is about 5
ft (152.5 cm) long with a wingspread of 8 to 10 ft (244 to 300.5 cm).
[1]
, just for a Sunday drive, and to have a nice
brunch on the pier.
There were many birds -- sea gulls and
pelicans mostly.
You see that this
pier, out into the They buy
bait from the bait shop, drop a line, and often catch decent-sized fish.
So, we stopped to
watch a while, and soon I was buying bait so that I, too, could feed the birds.
I happened to sit next
to an old fisherman and he gave me some advice on feeding the pelicans.
Fun!
I got more data.
So, say I, "does
it hurt?"
I must tell you that
the first time that pelican grabbed my entire hand I did flinch just a bit.
I didn't let go for
several seconds, but then did.
An interesting
experience -- having this enormous bird with the long beak, and big pouch,
swallow your entire hand, and hang onto it!
I'd hold one out about
waist-height, and one of the pelicans would grab my entire hand, and hang on
until I let the fish drop down his gullet.
She tried with one fish, flinched,
and vowed to never do THAT again!
I then took a closer look at my hand.I certainly could feel the sting, and some
pain, but I was having so much fun that I didn't care.
That's my pelican
story.It's fun!
You can't blame a nail
for sticking in your foot.Likewise, when you put
your hand into a pelican's mouth, you can't complain that the pelican bit you!
Airport Gates
On my return trip I
got to the airport quite early, just to be sure I didn't miss the plane.
In this terminal you
had to take a shuttle train to the "A" Terminal, and I got there
plenty early.Oh! Oh!I urgently asked at
another gate, only to be told that my departure was from Gate 74F.
Out of breath
too!
But, even though I was
running, and a bit upset at the girl for giving me the wrong gate, I still had
time to think about this.
But, then I wondered, "was that my gate for some previous departure?"
Now, what DID that
girl at the ticket counter say to me?Or, having told some
100+ people, that same morning, where to depart on that one plane, and that
airline not having ANY departures from "Gate 7A," isn't it possible
that she SAID "Gate 74F" to me, but I didn't hear her, and that when
I looked at the ticket jacket I just assumed (incorrectly) that I was supposed
to go to Gate 7A?
By now you may be
catching the drift of the message.
And, I am likewise
responsible for going to the wrong gate in that airport.
But,
how about this.
It's quite well known, of course,
that When you are up above
it, you can see the smog as a low, dirty yellow layer that covers the
city.
I thought, "It
must be all those people who drive to work, and all those factories, and all
those OTHER people.
When it comes to
pelicans grabbing your hand, and your going to the
wrong gate at an airport, you'd have no trouble seeing your personal responsibility,
would you?
And most people would
probably agree with you.
My Earache Too?
After I'd been there
about 10 days, I started to get an ear infection.I was in some
considerable pain for many days!
I asked the doctor,
"what could have caused my ear infection?"
You could say that I
was responsible for traveling to a humid area, and that I was responsible for
going swimming, but you would probably conclude that I was mostly an innocent
victim of external factors.
Now, let's look at
something most people agreed with, just a few hundred years ago.
When we are looking at finding
"who or what is responsible for some situation" we can pretty easily
recognize the common reality of our society.
Well, you
certainly were the entire cause there!
Well, you can say you were
the unfortunate victim of circumstances beyond your control.
Now, let me tell you
about an area, and a period of time, when there was a great deal of agreement
on who or what was responsible for some of the
situations in that time and space.
That's really not very long ago, is it?
, in the years between 1560 and 1600.
Well, there were several situations
occurring in that area, during a forty-year period, and
there was unanimous
Yes, the Church, the
King and Government, and the People, all agreed!
The problems which
they faced, in those days, and which were ALL caused by the same thing, were:
Droughts
