Comments on: The Eagle Has Landed https://livingwithscleroderma.com/the-eagle-has-landed/ Reflections on the Messy Complexity of Chronicity Sun, 24 Nov 2019 16:32:51 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Evelyn Herwitz https://livingwithscleroderma.com/the-eagle-has-landed/#comment-77975 Tue, 19 Nov 2019 23:05:30 +0000 https://www.livingwithscleroderma.com/?p=6470#comment-77975 In reply to Patricia Bizzell.

A friend told me today that bald eagles have been sited on the Charles River. I was also glad that none of the passersby tried to attack the eagle, which was just doing what Nature has programmed it to do. What fascinated me, as I thought about it over the weekend, was the magnetism of raw power, in the Animal Kingdom as a reflection of our own human foibles.

]]> By: Patricia Bizzell https://livingwithscleroderma.com/the-eagle-has-landed/#comment-77974 Tue, 19 Nov 2019 21:14:53 +0000 https://www.livingwithscleroderma.com/?p=6470#comment-77974 I find all of your thoughts and reactions in this post very interesting and thought provoking, starting with the ferocious photo of the bird that you chose to head your post.
I think you are probably right that the bird was a young bald eagle. He or she might have been hunting in the city where pigeons are plentiful because, as an inexperienced hunter, she/he was having a harder time finding food in the wild; and might also not be smart enough yet to know that densely populated areas are best avoided. I’m surprised that none of the spectators attempted to grab the bird or scare it off, at least as long as you were there.
As for the pigeon, I do not dislike these birds or consider them “rats” (actually, I don’t dislike rats either, I just don’t want them to live where they can harm humans). I agree that pigeons are pretty and that they have interesting, even admirable qualities. But I also do not begrudge the eagle his or her dinner.
Certainly, it is disturbing to see an animal torn apart. I always find road kill disturbing. But since I eat meat (I know, Evie, that you do not), I also have to confront the reality that animals are slaughtered–torn apart, if you want to put the worst possible construction on it–so that I can eat them. The fact that I eat only kosher meat, which is supposedly prepared with the minimum of suffering for the animal, does not entirely absolve me.

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