I’m almost embarrassed to admit this but my wife and I have taken up probably the most stereotypically senior citizen-ish pastime imaginable. When our dog Amstel passed away a little over a year ago we started feeding the squirrels in the city park behind our condo building.
If anyone were to be monitoring our Amazon purchases they would probably think we had some kind of a hardcore addiction to walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans. At this point we’re ordering about fifty dollars worth of nuts a month, that’s no exaggeration.
It’s all been worth it. It's been unbelievably relaxing and rewarding connecting with nature like this right there in our own neighborhood. When we’re feeling down heading over to the park always lifts our spirits. Over the last year we’ve begun to recognize certain squirrels and have even named a few.
Of all the cast of characters with names like - Capone, Speck, and Mama, none have captured our hearts quite like Magoo, the blind squirrel (named after the blind cartoon character Mr. Magoo).
This spring there’s been a bumper crop of new babies, probably due to all of this excess food they’ve been getting.
Magoo gets around quite well despite his lack of sight. His senses of smell and hearing are the best of any squirrel in the park. Most of the time, he finds us just minutes after we arrive. Sometimes he’s ninja-like, appearing out of nowhere at our feet. But if he’s napping or we manage to slip by him undetected I whistle and he comes running.
As we’ve learned more about these little critters’ behavior we’ve been surprised by their intelligence.
Now, on to the heart of my story.
During our time in the park what’s also surprised us is the behavior of the children, and their parents, on the park playground.
Sometimes my wife and I will have a dozen or so squirrels chowing down in front of us. The kids are immediately drawn to the squirrels, this part I understand because we would have been too at their age. What we don’t understand is, more often than not, the children will chase and try to harm them. Despite seeing that we’re feeding the animals, the kids chase the squirrels with sticks, try to stomp or kick them. Sometimes the parents idly watch and we’ve even witnessed one parent join their kids in the chase. Most often the parents are just too consumed with their phones to notice what their kids are up to.
We’ve even had to intervene and tell the kids, “Don’t chase the squirrels!” Oftentimes this solicits the “stink eye” from their parents if they’re paying attention.
Magoo is blind and has been known to run directly towards people and catapult off of them if he’s startled (we jokingly call it people parkour). You can imagine the dismay this causes and the chaos that ensues.
Back in the 1970’s when we weren’t in school we were playing outside almost all of the time so we had more contact with the natural world. There was also a very different parent/child dynamic four or five decades ago. I often refer to it as “spank-o-therapy”. I’m sure there were some parents who took it too far but our parents never did. My brother and I were quick learners in that regard. In those days parents weren’t as concerned with always being our friends and it never, ever felt like they were our peers. Our parents knew there was a time for compassion but there was also a time for discipline. They didn’t think twice about being stern or saying the word “no'' and were quick to reprimand us if we tried to do anything like harming an animal. It didn’t take long for us to learn the long list of things that just weren’t okay to do.
Many of the kids we’re encountering today just don’t seem to be getting this kind of direction from their parents. Afterall, these kids raised in the city today probably spend most of their waking hours either commuting or in front of a screen. It’s safe to say that their parents were raised in a very similar way. Mobile phones weren’t as prevalent but they probably played video games after school and on weekends instead of having unstructured playtime at a park or out in the woods.
The disconnect the past few generations have with nature, and in the case of the parents, the disconnect from the present moment, makes me feel more than a little uneasy. We can learn so much about the world and our place in it just from observing nature. A part of our humanity is lost if we cut ourselves off from the vibrant wisdom of Earth’s ecosystem.
As I’m writing this I can’t help but wonder if every generation has had this dilemma. I wonder if that elderly woman, shaking her liver-spotted fist and yelling, “Get the hell off my lawn” when I was a five shared these same concerns. No, she was probably just a grumpy old fart.
Very soon it will be Generation X’s turn to step up and tell all the good-for-nothing whippersnappers to “get the hell off our lawns”. I sincerely hope it never comes to that. I fear feeding the squirrels might be the first step of a very slippery slope to “GrumpyOldFartland”.
Be well and make the most of this day. Thank you for reading!
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