This cute little guy reminds me of SHELBY F. SQUIRREL! Animals inspire me a lot. Their lives are filled with work, activity, community and fun. We have mostly lost that simplicity in the human world.
WORK ETHIC: Do we still have it? To me it means going above and beyond what is asked of me. I wonder where that concept is learned best. Probably it’s the home and parenting, but if that is missing for whatever reason, it falls to the schools. But it’s difficult to teach when a student is not allowed to help push a grand piano in case he or she is injured. In its wisdom the TDSB has a rule which says it’s OK for a female staff person to do such heavy labour, alone. I say have the strong young people learn how to do such a job safely, and let them experience what it feels like to help for no pay other than a thank-you. And even go the extra bit above and beyond in the process.
ACTIVITY: We live sedentary lives for the most part. Healthy activity is something we have to add to daily routines, because we have the comfort of modern appliances to do most chores. Our ancestors were more hale and hearty, products of physical work on a daily basis. While the automation and accessibility of our conveniences are miracles in themselves, the result is that we have become soft. Now, in order to be healthy we must add exercise to an already busy, stressful day. Hm, do you have the energy left over for that?
COMMUNITY: Living in close proximity to hundreds of others can be smothering. We deal with that by practising indifference toward each other. Neighbours often don’t meet or converse, even when passing in the street. Many factors contribute to this but one of the strongest is the use of computers, cell phones and the endless variety of other electronic toys. I’m guilty of it myself! My time for playing scrabble online, attending to email, and now daily FaceBook visits, is a large part of my existence now. Valuable asset for a shut-in but it’s too easy to end up there without realising we’ve let it happen
FUN: This has been a stressful winter for me personally. Many a night my dear husband would make sure to get me through an episode of “The Big Bang Theory” to guarantee a much-needed laugh or two. We used to play Cribbage or even Upwords (that neat vertical Scrabble game). These distractions were good honest fun, but TV habit has won out, with the huge variety of channels available and the computer woos me away to check whether there is a play waiting for me on Pixie Pit or Lexulous. The joy of watching our budgies play is definitely fun. But silly as they appear at times, their daily routines are worth taking to heart. Work, Activity, Community, Fun.
Forgive my ramblings. I wonder if I could come back as a squirrel or a budgie.
Eleanor Lawrie, Author 