{"id":4256,"date":"2012-09-01T21:13:24","date_gmt":"2012-09-02T01:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=4256"},"modified":"2012-09-01T21:13:24","modified_gmt":"2012-09-02T01:13:24","slug":"sore-throats-and-bad-attitudes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2012\/09\/sore-throats-and-bad-attitudes.html","title":{"rendered":"sore throats and bad attitudes ~"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Some days, you wonder why you keep throwing yourself into the fray. You email a friend, or he emails you, and together you whine about the total futility of it all. ‘It’ being, of course, convincing the bad guys you at least have a right to disagree. This is not that certain a given, these days…<\/p>\n

And some days, if you add in a sore throat, total frustration at not feeling well, and a bad case of attitude, you probably shouldn’t be let loose in public… Those days? Here’s my prescription (self-administered, just FYI):\u00a0 Go to the bird store. I’m serious. Go to the nearest bird store and buy seed, or a feeder, or just look around.<\/p>\n

Then go home and set up the new gizmo. And wait. Wait for the reliable tide of nature to turn back in your direction, bringing in purple, house, & gold finches; downy, hairy, & ladderback woodpeckers; sparrows & wrens & jays and cardinals… And more. And just watch.<\/p>\n

They get along, guys. They take turns at the saucer of water, queuing up \"\"<\/a>like good kindergarteners, only w\/out supervision. Rarely do they even knock each other off — I’ve watched a Carolina wren & and a downy woodpecker feeding on the same side of the suet hanger, w\/ a hairy woodpecker clinging to the other side. Even the cheeky English sparrows stand in line for water on a hot Oklahoma day.<\/p>\n

I don’t hear them kvetching about things, even though it’s hot, there’s little to eat (if you’re a bird — been too dry), mites must be awful in the heat… And I want more of that.<\/p>\n

So I took a FB break for a few days — and I feel better…:) Throat still hurts. I’m still cranky. But you know what? I don’t have the same unfocused ambient anger. And that’s a start. Maybe we all need to do less social media, and more bird time.. What do you think?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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