Eagles is Freedom

ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS

Visiting the Bald Eagles at the Columbian Park Zoo
With my friend Nikki ~ April 25, 2016

Fly Like An Eagle
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future

I want to fly like an eagle
To the sea
Fly like an eagle
Let my spirit carry me
I want to fly like an eagle
Till I'm free
Oh, Lord, through the revolution

Feed the babies
Who don't have enough to eat
Shoe the children
With no shoes on their feet
House the people
Livin' in the street
Oh, oh, there's a solution

I want to fly like an eagle
To the sea
Fly like an eagle
Let my spirit carry me
I want to fly like an eagle
Till I'm free
Fly through the revolution

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future

I want to fly like an eagle
To the sea
Fly like an eagle
Let my spirit carry me
I want to fly like an eagle
Till I'm free
Fly through the revolution

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future

~ The Steve Miller Band

Admiring the impressive eagles and measuring my own "wingspan" reminded me of a teaching anecdote posted by my friend Sandy's daughter Rachel a couple of summers ago:

July 4, 2014 · Bangkok, Thailand ·
Blech. I'm homesick. I don't want to be in Bangkok. I want to be in the States doing American things. You know what's weird? I haven't spent a 4th of July in the US since 2010 . . . weird.

Also, there was this conversation in tutoring yesterday . . . appropriate for the eve of July 4th? I think so. (Talking about carnivores vs herbivores, which led to a discussion about birds of prey. We were in no way talking about the US, the Fourth, or anything like that.)

Varit: What win when fight? Eagle or hawk?

Phonpisith: Eagle! Because it strength and FREEDOM.

Me: ??? Where did you even hear that? I never taught you that and your homeroom teacher is English and didn't teach you that.

Phonpisith: I know about freedom. And eagles is freedom.
[ellipses in original; emphasis added]

Could it be that these young Thai students had heard John Denver sing:

The Eagle And The Hawk
I am the eagle, I live in high country in rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky.
I am the hawk, and there's blood on my feathers.
But time is still turning, they soon will be dry.
And all those who see me, and all who believe in me
share in the freedom I feel when I fly.

Come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops.
Sail o'er the canyons and up to the stars.
And reach for the heavens and hope for the future
and all that we can be, and not what we are.

These two songs are connected not only by vivid imagery of flying eagles but also by the mysterious passage of time. For John Denver, "time is still turning"; and for the Little River Band, "Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' / Into the future."

Even more important, perhaps, is their shared theme of social justice:

LRB ~ "Feed the babies
Who don't have enough to eat
Shoe the children
With no shoes on their feet
House the people
Livin' in the street
Oh, oh, there's a solution"

JD ~ "And reach for the heavens and hope for the future
and all that we can be, and not what we are."

Come the Revolution! Happy Bastille Day!

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Thursday July 28th

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