Sad News About Elephant Seals

I recently wrote about the elephant seals at San Simeon, and then about one particular wandering seal who found his way across Route 1 and onto the grounds of the Hearst Ranch. Eventually, he was coaxed safely back across the road to the rookery.

Last Saturday, three elephant seals were found shot to death there. It's hard to imagine who would do such a thing or why they would want to do it.

I learned that early in the last century, elephant seals were thought to be extinct, but one small rookery remained on an island off Lower California. The seals at San Simeon are descendants of that group.

There is a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the shooter of the elephant seals.

Let's Hear It For The Turkey Vulture

All my life I have shuddered at the thought of vultures, either human ones or the kinds that fly. But now I have a different view: turkey vultures have captured my heart.

Three or four times a week, I walk with a friend on Bob Jones Trail near where I live, in San Luis Obispo, California. The trail winds in gentle curves through a heavy growth of oaks, walnut trees, and sycamores, is easy underfoot, and wide enough to accomodate both biking and walking traffic in two directions at once. After about 3/4 of a mile, there is a bench on the right, and on the left an open field. It's a wonderful place to sit, look at the oak-covered hills beyond the field, and watch the living things around us. One thing we always see there, is numbers of turkey vultures coming in to roost for the night, because we walk late in the day.

This activity looks different every day, depending on the weather. They soar on the wind hardly ever flapping their wings, and when the situation is right, seem to have a wonderful time circling up, around, down, then up again, and up, hundreds of them, all at once. After my friend, Antoine, and I had been watching this exciting display for several weeks, trying to figure out what they were doing, I said, "I think they're playing. They don't seem to be doing it for a reason, like getting food." Antoine agreed. "They look as if they're having fun, for sure."

I went to a site on the internet, The Turkey Vulture Society, and found that we are right, they do like to play in the wind. I learned much more about them, and about their unusual personalities. They never kill, they are not agressive, they like people, and are generous with each other in that if there is a large source of food, such as a dead cow, they will alert other groups of turkey vultures to come and share.

Now that I have watched them for so many months, and been enchanted by their floating, effortless, form of flight, I no longer shudder at the thought of a vulture. I realize they have a niche in the scheme of things, and a job to do that is important to all of us, keeping the world clean.

Gnarls Barkley and Bobby Jameson

I have written an article about my son, Bobby Jameson aka Chris Lucey, and the hip-hop group, Gnarls Barkley. It is about their use of his song, Jamie, which they used and altered without his permission. Please click on "Art and Music" in the toolbar above to read it. I'd appreciate it if you would leave your reactions and comments. Thanks.

The Iowa Caucus

We've passed the first milestone in the choice of a new president, the Iowa caucus. I'm glad that two "newcomers" got the nod. It's been discouraging to have the country held hostage by people with money and power, who are looking out for their own interests, and not for the welfare of the people. What is a democratic government for, if not to take care of its citizens?

New Year, New Moment

Even though we are embarking on a new year, which sets our gaze and our hopes on the future, I think the most important time is now. To make a financial analogy, "yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, and today is all the cash we have on hand." (I don't know who I'm quoting, but thanks to whomever it was.)

I like to have ideas and principles encapsulated in statements that are clear enough, and succinct enough, to be easy to remember. That's the only way they become part of us, and affect our lives. The quote above has helped many times to keep me aware of the moment I'm in.

No one can have a better past. It's common to stew over past mistakes, poor decisions, poor judgment, unfairness to others, moments of dishonesty, selfishness, or unkindness. None of us is free of things we regret, that give us a pang when we remember them, but, really, the only thing we can do about the past, is to do a better job of today.

We have hopes for the future, especially at the beginning of a new year, but the future is always ahead of where we actually are, and, in that sense, beyond our control. The present moment is all we can control, so to affect the future, we must be conscious of what we are doing in the moments when we  decide whether to be kind or not, honest or not, fair or not.

Let's hear it for the present moment. What a gift, and what an opportunity each moment is.

Promoting Peace

It's Christmas, and here we are, still at war. Even though most of us didn't want it to start, and want it to end, war continues. Lives are lost, lives ruined, and families torn apart. How can we stop it? It seems beyond our power. What can one person do? I meditated. I asked what I could do to promote  peace. The answer:

     Be peaceful.

    Think peacefully, speak peacefully, act peacefully, respond peacefully, relate to others  peacefully.

     If anger arises, use the energy of that anger to accomplish peaceful ends, and to bring about the best for all concerned.

     Peace begins in one's own heart, and if it isn't there, it won't be in your life, nor can you pass it on to others.

     If you want to promote peace in the world, it must begin with you, in your own heart, in your own life.

Here is a poem from my book, "The White Tree."

                    PEACE

          No matter what appears
          Around us in the world
          Injustice
          Wounds
          Wars
          Peace is the answer
          Individual peace

          Peace in our thoughts
          Our minds
          Our hearts
          Our actions
          Can change the world
          Nothing else can

          There is no way to peace
          Peace is the way.

The Errant Elephant Seal

I live not far from the coast, in a beautiful area of California about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Recently, on my birthday, my friend Antoine took me for a ride up the coast to have lunch in the delightful little town of Cambria, just south of San Simeon. When we got there, it was still early for lunch, so we decided to go up toward San Simeon to see the elephant seals.

Several years ago, for reasons unknown to us humans, the elephant seals commandeered a beach near San Simeon, and began to establish a colony. At first there were only a few, but gradually their numbers have grown, until now there are hundreds, and they have become a subject of great interest to tourists.

The wind was blowing, and it had begun to rain, but our curiosity led us out anyway into the raw weather. We parked and walked to the wire fence that has been erected to protect the seals from curious visitors, or perhaps to protect the visitors from the seals, I'm not sure which. I expected lots of activity, but instead, was surprised to see hundreds of huge cigar-shaped mounds of blubber lying motionless on the beach, "basking" in the wind and rain.

At that moment, there were only three active seals: a male who had laid claim to a female, the female herself, and another male who fancied himself as a replacement for beau number one. He kept inching closer and closer, until the first seal sensed his presence and turned and lunged toward him.  The intruder began to back up, and then he stopped. The first seal  hurled himself forward toward the challenger, mouth open, looking very fierce. This time the intruder backed up for sure, going about as fast backwards as he probably could go forwards. Then he gave up and flopped away.

When we left the parking lot, and turned toward Cambria, we noticed a seal in the grass to the right of the road. We wondered what he was doing there, so far from the rest of the colony. It seemed odd.

The next night, I heard on the news that an elephant seal had crossed the road and somehow gotten through the fence of San Simeon Ranch. He was apparently having a wonderful time rollicking there in the grass. Every night after that, he was on the evening news, with pictures of his adventures in his new-found playground. He captured everyone's imagination with his happy antics. He found a little pool of water, and looked the picture of bliss as he lay in it, gazing at the sky.

Men from various agencies were out there trying to figure out how to lure him safely back across the road, but no one had been able to come up with a good enough idea. He was happy where he was. Officials were afraid he would be hit by a car, if he crossed the road by himself, and be injured, or perhaps cause injury to whoever might hit him.

The local TV station, KSBY, had a contest among their viewers to think of a name for the errant seal. There were various suggestions, such as Dumbo, Scooter, Rosebud (because he was on the Hearst Ranch), and Lucky, to name a few. Lucky won. At the end of the week, the men who were trying to relocate Lucky finally succeeded in persuading him across the road, and back to the colony.

I suppose that was a good thing, but he did look awfully happy in his private pool.

Thoughts on Boredom

    Lately several people have told me they are bored. That started me thinking. Why is it I am never bored? After some pondering, several reasons came to me. First, there are so many things that interest me, things I want to find out about, or do, or create, that whenever there is time in which nothing is required of me, there is always something I want to do.

    Secondly, there is no idea in my mind that somebody, or something will come along to entertain me, or save me, or fix me, in any way. I am responsible to myself for myself. Of course, I didn't believe this when I was young--it was sort of forced on me by life. Years ago, things I wanted to happen weren't happening, so I had to learn to find my way by myself, which leads to the third reason.

    In looking for answers on my own, somewhere along the way, I decided that Abraham Lincoln was right when he said, "People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be." At first, when I read that, I snorted. Easy for him to say! But eventually, I found that doing things I like, spending time with people I like and am comfortable with, and treating people the way I would like to be treated, gave me a feeling of happiness. I saw that happiness is not something you can search for like a pot of gold, or a hidden gem, it is a by-product of how you are living and thinking.

    I hope that every person who feels bored will find something interesting to do, or see, or learn, or become involved in, something that doesn't depend on other people doing it with you or for you. That doesn't mean other people can't be involved; it means the idea must come from within you, that you really enjoy it, and that you can do it on your own.