I had an interesting experience this week. I have gotten to the point where I have to take a pair of cheap reading glasses everywhere I go (it’s been growing on me for the past several years). Since I don’t always have a shirt pocket I got one of those cords that hook to the glasses and goes around the neck so I always have them with me. Well, I was going into Jennifer’s school to check her out (she wasn’t feeling well), the wind was blowing just a bit and I had the glasses on my head instead of around my neck (they get in the way of the seat belt when I drive) which put the cord right by my ear. As I walked toward the school I started to hear a low humming sound nearby. I stopped to figure it out and it took me a few seconds but I finally realized it was the wind blowing past the cord that was right by my ear, vibrating it enough to create a humming sound. That should have been the end of it but my mind seemed to go into high gear as if it was learning something new and exciting. I was shocked at how interesting it seemed and stopped to adjust the cord to hear it in both ears (stereo). After listening for a while I suddenly looked up at the tree that was right in front of me and saw, as if it was being shown to me, the thin branches on the tree that were the same width as the cord around my neck. I then realized that each of those branches was playing the same note that I could hear from the cord right next to my ear. Because the branches were 10 feet way from me I couldn’t hear their note or song. It then came to me almost as if it were a revelation that every tree has a song. Then I realized that each forest must play it’s own symphony when a breeze blows. It dawned on me that we humans have such poor hearing that we can’t hear it so we don’t even realize it is there. The creatures of the forest, for the most part, have incredible hearing so they are able to hear these wind songs. Obviously they are not the same thing we hear when we listen to Clair de lune for the first time but it is still a song, it’s just a song for a completely different audience. I then wondered if, at their intellectual level, the wind song gives them messages as to what weather might be on the way. Does the forest play a different song when the wind blows from the north as compared to the west, south or east? Might the animals learn to recognize the song that tells them when a major winter storm is coming or a summer thunder storm? Is their weather report not from TV but from the song of the forest? I stood there for a bit soaking all this in as if it was being pored into my head, then after being grateful for the insight I continued on my way into the school with my mind still excited about this new perspective. I haven’t been able to forget what I felt as this information was pored into my head on that breezy day in Herriman so I thought I had better write it down so others can confirm their suspicions that I am a few crayons short of a box and begin a program of prayer for the crazy guy that hears the wind song. That’s Okay; I still feel I am better for hearing it. It makes me more aware of the fact that there are many things going on around me that I may not now about in my noisy world filled with the sounds of traffic and machinery, but they are there and though I can’t hear them with my ears I can hear them with my heart. It keeps me in touch with what’s important.
A little after thought…
A few months after I wrote this story, I was reading a book, called Wisdomkeepers, I bought at the BYU Bookstore (when I went down there to drop off my temple pictures that I sell in the bookstore). It is filled with messages from Native American Elders about the path of wisdom. One told the interviewers that an important part of life is finding your own song. It is amazing how different cultures are. He says that everyone has a song and you must ask the creator to help you find your own song. He also said that everything in nature has a song; there are even songs for healing of sickness and disease. It was interesting to hear his perspective. It reminded me of my experience with the hum of the cord on my reading glasses and the song of the tree and the forest. I think I am still looking for my song. I hope it is not too late to find it.
Another after thought…
For the fall semester of 2009 Brian took a class in collage on flute making. He made himself a wooden Native American flute and, to my surprise, he made one for me as well and gave it to me for Christmas. I play it frequently, usually at home but sometimes I take it on a walk in the woods to play. I enjoy making up songs as I go and have started a habit of creating a new song for the day each day. It’s always a short one minute song dedicated to that day so each day has its own song. I don’t think the day cares if it has a song or not and even though I quickly forget the song as the day wears on, at least I know I gave the day its own song and it makes me feel closer to the things that we don’t think about in our day to day busy world, but they are still all around us, keeping track of us, watching to see how we spend our precious time while here for a short stay on Mother Earth.
