Opinions & Perceptions

On an otherwise typical morning in early March, cold took on a perceptible warmth.  I noticed it at dawn when stepping out for a few sticks of firewood.  Twenty eight degrees felt strangely pleasant, almost balmy.

The birds were singing– cardinals, redwings, mourning doves– and geese were squabbling for territories on the marsh.  At the base of an aged white pine, bright green daffodil spears poked through a mat of golden needles.

Maybe it was biofeedback, the flowers and birdsong giving the illusion it was warmer than it was.  I told myself not trusting a thermometer was akin to questioning a compass and a long awaited spring can play with a man’s head.  Perceptions are not always true.

A few weeks ago, Ouiser, our mongrel dog in training, showed up with a chicken which was alive but beyond the point of saving.  I did four things: 1) scolded the dog, 2) dispatched the chicken, 3) went to the neighbors and left a note of restitution, and 4) ordered a wireless fence collar for the dog.

After the collar arrived there were several days of training so Ouiser would get familiar with her boundaries. As she entered the “correction zone”, the collar would first beep and vibrate, then deliver a shock if the dog didn’t do an about face.  Just one corrective shock seemed to get the message across.  But then one morning she attempted to follow me through the correction zone, wailed pitifully as she was shocked, and sped off.  I  caught up with her on the stoop of the back door, curled in a ball.  She’d glance at me with eyes veiled in disbelief, and was oblivious to my efforts to console.  I don’t claim to know everything that goes on in a puppy’s mind but could guess she felt betrayed, that a trust had been broken and I was to blame.  For several days she’d have nothing to do with me, turning her face when I offered treats, tucking her tail when I approached.  It was brutal for both of us.

It reminded me of Jane Goodall describing a childhood experience with a dog which convinced her that animals could feel and express emotion.  She went on to study chimpanzees and found their emotional intelligence highly advanced.  Since then, emotion has been documented in several species, including rats, sheep, starlings, pigs, octopus, lobsters, and honeybees.

Do honeybees use emotion to form opinions or perceptions?  That would depend on the bee’s level of consciousness, which we don’t know.  But as humans we are highly skilled at forming sentiments based on information our senses or emotions provide, and our most guarded beliefs are often born of knee jerk reactions never given thoughtful consideration.  Perceptions and opinions don’t have to be true to become our reality.

Abundant birdsong in the spring woodland leads to the perception that birds in general are doing well, but the fact is their numbers have declined by nearly three billion since 1970.  The Cornell Bird Lab describes the loss staggering, and suggests “the very fabric of North America’s ecosystem is unraveling.”

Finding the seafood section at the market stocked to the brim says nothing about the alarming decline in ocean fisheries.

A consistently high yield in grain crops overlooks the long term consequences of ongoing erosion and degradation of soils.

Why are we slow to recognize the sacrifice and work ethic often shown by those living in poverty, or to associate their declining neighborhoods with the lower paying jobs they’re forced to take?

The only people who truly understand white privilege are not white people.

The hope and confidence we place in our God is no more real than the hope and confidence others place in theirs, and there are highly moral, loving, generous people among us who choose to acknowledge no god at all.

Why do we look at wealth inequality and climate change as issues too big for us to individually do anything about? 

Time is a great healer, and Ouiser is again including me in her tight circle of valued and trusted friends.  The shock collar has been replaced with a GPS gadget that monitors her escapades.  She’s twice ventured near the neighbor’s chickens.  When confronted and reprimanded a second time, she showed remorse, whether sincere or feigned, but she’s not been back since. 

I don’t have much experience at training dogs other than a black lab I used for hunting, but I grew up with a popular opinion that a thrashing or two was in the history of most every good dog. Dog trainers today strongly disagree. Consistent, short sessions, heavy on praise and reward for learned behaviors and an absence of painful or shouted corrections are the ticket.  I’m giving this approach a go, and damn if it isn’t working. Ouiser has become more calm and attentive, and my blood pressure is staying on an even keel. We’re both enjoying the process. 

We’re all the products of our sensory and emotional experiences.  The perceptions and opinions we take for gospel are often wrong, as is our stubborn refusal to allow them to change.

While the Earth Warmed

Then came the spring after the people of The Great Nation had chosen a new leader— a felon, a conman, full of himself and full of lies. Many who voted for him were not privy to his intentions. They were ill informed, led astray by radical newscasts, talk show hosts, social blogs.  They knew nothing of the planned coup, the constitutional crisis to come. 

It was his second run as commander in chief and he was better prepared, surrounding himself with wealthy loyalists supportive of an authoritarian takeover. By way of dozens of executive orders and key agency appointees the commander began a dismantling of long held institutions while thumbing his nose at the rule of law. He spread fear among immigrants and gave an unelected man unprecedented power and access to the data of private citizens and government expenditures. He did it in the name of cutting waste and to fulfill a promise to make the nation great again. He did it to protect the interests of his rich loyalists and shower himself with wealth. 

With his minions at his beck and call he used a rapid fire strategy to spread unrest and confusion. It’s what Canadian journalist Naomi Kline calls “the shock doctrine.”  Keep the people off balance and on the verge of hysteria. Chaos is the perfect cover for passing unpopular policy. 

Environmental threats were none of his concern. He rolled back regulations and withdrew from the U.S. Paris Agreement; cut support for clean energy initiatives and increased fossil fuel production. He removed thousands from the payrolls of agencies tasked with monitoring climate change and its influence on weather extremes, wildfires, pestilence, and biodiversity loss. He gutted the EPA, rolling back safeguards that had controlled rampant pollution for decades.  

He couldn’t be bothered with data signaling a red alert due to rising ocean temperatures or melting polar ice; held no concern for threats to agriculture from drought and flood and temperature extremes, or the promise of inundated coastal cities and the mass migrations that would follow. He proclaimed the data corrupt, the whole concept a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.  And he was a smart man, a stable genius by his own declaration. “It’ll start getting cooler,” he said, “You just watch.”

And with the shock doctrine in force and the populace frazzled and distracted, the actions a warming planet demanded were lost under a mountain of concerns over the economy and treason and autocracy and a constitutional crisis. 

When the wildfires next flared there were no resources to combat them, and thousands lost lives and belongings to floods and tsunamis because there had been no advance warnings from offices now empty.  Epidemics that might have been contained ran unchecked as short-staffed agencies were hamstrung and ineffective. 

The earth responded as it always has, as our understanding of physics and chemistry would dictate, without regard for current occupants. The beautifully functional planet maintained its orbit, accounted for changes in atmospheric composition, adjusted to higher temperatures. Most of what it did was long predicted by top climate scientists and should have come as no surprise. The opportunity to avoid catastrophic impacts had been kicked aside for decades. The commander of The Great Nation could not be solely blamed, but his blatant disregard was salt for an open wound that hastened the ill effects and underscored the folly of man and his quest for wealth and dominance.

When spring came that year the titmice sang from the understory and killdeer flew in loose, erratic flocks over the open cropland.  Frost left the soil and the determined green tips of crocus pushed bravely through the thatch. The days grew pleasant and the earth prepped for an explosion of  life. Sandhill cranes winged north as thousands were found dead along their route, and farmers at the breakfast cafe spoke quietly over morning coffee, concerned their livestock would be next. Kids were sent to school by parents worried about measles and respiratory infections and the next pandemic. Vacations were canceled as layoffs dominated the news. Dreams and ambitions were put in hold. 

Everywhere a palpable uncertainty and unrest fueled a growing resistance. Tensions between opposing forces mounted. 

And the earth warmed.