There are a strange amount of crows where I live in Orange County. At least enough to make me notice them in ways I haven’t in other places where I have lived. Crows are not exactly an endearing sort of bird. Instead, led by their caw, they bring a menacing air or overbearing annoyance. I can’t recall anyone saying, “Let’s feed the crows!” like I have heard, “Let’s feed the ducks!” Plus, they’re black and not really aesthetically pleasing. Add to this the lure of Game of Thrones, and every time I hear crows crowing and see some flying over me, I am immediately filled with dread that a White Walker is drawing near. Enough to give me the shivers!
Yet, the crows stand out much more to me here than elsewhere because of the location. I live in Orange County, California, just next to Irvine, the safest city in the country and arguably one of the most desirous places to live. The amount of development that continues despite California being a wildly expensive place to live is a testament to this desire. If you drive around this area, you’ll find that city development planners thought everything through, from roads to greenspaces to shopping centers. There’s a seeming precision and perfection to it all.
Orange County is an Enneagram 3 culture in many ways, concerned with image, presentation, and how things look. However, that doesn’t mean everything is precise or perfect despite things looking so. For example, there is a lot of greenery in an area that gets barely any rain, which is beautiful. However, water must be brought in from places like the Colorado River, without which we could not have such beauty or the population en masse. Better still, many of these green spaces are well-kept by landscapers who are illegal immigrants, which is ironic given Orange County’s Republican sensibilities. See, there is the presentation, but then there is also what lies below or makes it all possible, which is not always beautiful or attractive. Just because the focus isn’t on these underlying things doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
These crows seem to annoyingly break through the façade. In an incredibly engineered and controlled world, they fly forth, scavenging for food. Amid southern California’s beautiful weather and scenery, these crows land with croaking sounds and black feathers. Amid the sunlight and beautiful blue skies, they bring annoying sounds and an ugly appearance. A nuisance to us in our controlled world but not to that which created them. They are simply doing their part, whether we like it or not.
Pay attention to birds such as these! Pay attention to the ravens or their cousins, the crows! Pay attention to them amid the world in which we have created. They may have something for us to learn after all. They are intelligent scavengers who, according to Jesus, “neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds.” More importantly, though, we are meant to contrast these words with the description of the rich fool a few verses earlier. His land (not him) produced much, so he tore down his barns and built larger storehouses (just like Pharaoh and Solomon); he then decided to take an early retirement, which ended quickly when his life was demanded of him. His problem: he was not rich toward others, nor did he realize that it was the land, not him, that produced the abundance.
It’s odd; the rich man’s behaviors are those that we usually prop up, and the raven/crow’s are those behaviors we would prefer to shew away, maybe even scatter with a broom or a stick if needed. Yet, it’s the crow whom we are told to pay attention to (with an imperative, no less). It is the unsightly gnawing bird that is to take hold of our attention and teach us.
A Foolish Way 