Saturday morning I found myself tossing and turning almost in beat to the feint drumming of a woodpecker. I want to believe this is the same woodpecker that emerges at the start of each spring drumming to attract a mate and mark his territory. My homeboy on the stick doing his thing to make sure he lives another day. For a long time I also thought the woodpecker was actually eating all that bark only recently have I learned they're drilling holes looking for grub and sap. It seems odd in way this bird has the most powerful of tools for a diet of insects.
Woodpeckers have two backward toes instead of one to give them leverage and feathers that become extraordinarily stiff for balance and leverage.
Other birds afforded this kind of weapons look for animal prey but the woodpecker, call him crazy, and are cool with banging his head against trees to lick up bugs. Mankind of course has the ability to become a woodpecker or eagle with respect to skills and determination among the species. But as each day goes by there is less need to develop such skills. Now there is a huge debate about raising the minimum wage 24% as part of the fairness initiative.
Forget about hunting and pecking for food and shelter in our eco-system as birds of prey become the prey, while those birds that never leave the nest get the rewards.
It's a backward system that goes against the laws of nature and even the would-be laws of fairness. It's what has caused this recovery to drag and confusion to linger. It's slowed the wheels of commerce driven by ambition and profit-motivation.
If insects and saps were delivered to woodpeckers without effort, at some point they would lose one of their toes, the stickiness of their tongues, and the thick skills that allow for hammering against trees.
The same will happen in America if we continue the War on Success and Redistribution of Accountability that punishes those that do everything right, including the sacrifices needed to climb the ladder of success.
