JUST A SQUIRREL

By: Travis W. Lewis

May 24, 2024

On a recent, nearly routine, front-porch, early morning sitting period of relaxing, praying, meditating, and silent reminiscing, I observed a young squirrel in his apparently diligent search for food. And, as I watched, I recorded these simple observations.

He was just a young, gray squirrel, one among possibly tens of millions living in the southeastern United States. The one in my sight this morning happens to be feeding under a large oak tree in our front yard. Unto him is attached no name, no number, no home or work address, no digital access or identification. He has no knowledge or concern with either who his parents are, his past lineage or any of his kin. Nor is he concerned with any of their welfare. He knows of no siblings, or even half-siblings, both of which may number into the dozens or possibly thousands. He knows neither the definition nor need of “friends”, nor does he sense any anxiety in not knowing. Only his immediate need, which at this moment is food, seems to be his lone concern.

He awoke this morning with urgencies limited to only immediate satisfaction of his most base instincts, which are hunger and thirst, to minimize uneasiness with self-preservation, and, at certain times of year, something that draws him to the opposite gender. Today is not one during which that particular urge will be of concern. He awakens, goes about satisfying his most immediate instinct of the moment, which is relieving his pains of hunger, after which time he will seclude himself in some location that will calm his concern with self-preservation. He is just one descendant of an almost unnoticeable part of the creation performed long ago by our omniscient and omnipotent God, the Creator.

This short tract refers to my little furry, long-tailed friend and neighbor, with whom I coexist in total peace. My reference to him uses the masculine gender pronoun, “him” or “he”. Actually, he could be a “he”, or with equal probability, a “she”. Could I have been in his continual presence during last January or February, or during this month of May through early July, I could have made determination that would have left no doubt. An interest in such a contemporary bone of contention proves some interesting things – none of which suggests otherwise than that squirrels, like all living things, are born either male or female. With whichever gender they are born, that is what they retain.

Unlike Satan’s continual exertions to tempt and deceive the living souls of humanity, his efforts are not wasted on dumb brutes like the gray squirrel who needs no education to know which of the two he, or she, is. By nature itself he has been taught, and so it does with us humans – if we only listen! Ω TL 2024