On this beautiful, warm, November morning in Columbia, Missouri, I took a seat on the back deck. Listening to music, as usual, I was soon joined by a red-shouldered hawk that perched about fifty feet away. Taking little notice of my presence, he did not seem to be hunting but, like myself, just wanted to bask in the sun for awhile.
Of course, unlike my visitor, my attention was often diverted by internal and external stimuli. Certain songs would take me back to places or persons in my past and a host of pending tasks surfaced in my mind. My relaxation was primarily physical, not cerebral. The hawk, on the other hand, devoid of a large brain, was either hungry or not; no other issues disturbed his serenity.
About twenty minutes later, the raptor flew off. I was left alone, contemplating the fact that human superiority is a relative concept.
