{"id":24125,"date":"2020-04-24T07:36:55","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T14:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125"},"modified":"2020-04-24T07:36:58","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T14:36:58","slug":"all-this-to-prove-we-cared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125","title":{"rendered":"All this to prove we cared."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lots of birds on yesterday’s walk, searching for and bringing back nesting materials, some birds in their bright mating colors already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was reminded of a Robert Frost poem, The Exposed Nest,<\/em> that provides for me at its core a sense of unease around unresolved moral issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poet sees his young companion, perhaps his child, trying to build a shelter out of grass and ferns. It’s not just play but the desire to protect a ground-nest full of fledglings that was accidentally disturbed by someone mowing the meadow. The innocent birds are left defenseless – you do want to protect them from “too much world” (and all the danger that implies,) but the very act of building a shelter might frighten the parent bird away, leading them to abandon their brood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We saw the risk we took in doing good, but dared not spare to do the best we could though harm should come of it…” – all this to prove we cared. <\/em>” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is this sense of moral obligation, but also of having to make a choice between errors of omission and error of commission. Damned if you do and damned of you don’t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prove that we care<\/em> – to whom? To nature? The young child who needs a model? Some higher power that set moral standards? The self that has an internalized vision of what it means to be a good person? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the poem they decide to fashion a shelter. Then all is left hanging in the air, an irritatingly incomplete gesture. The narrator doesn’t go back to check on the fledglings’ survival, he turns to other things or conveniently claims to have forgotten if they did or did not return. Clearly there is a defensiveness against accepting the outcome of one’s action, should one have made the wrong choice. We fed our pretense or our hope to be “good,” but that’s enough. Let’s not dwell on potentially dead, abandoned birds…. since we suspect that’ll be the outcome in a world that is cruel to the innocent. (The poem was written in the middle of WW I, after all.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uneasy parallels to our current situation as well where we have a chance to alter some that ails the world beyond<\/em> pandemic: we need to make risky choices, unable to predict the outcome. In contrast to the narrator, we do have to face the results, though, unable to turn to other things since our decisions affect us all, not just some creatures we can keep out of our sight. Our choices are not just some gestures, demanded by our need to appear<\/em> moral – if they are<\/em> immoral choices, we will all be exposed to the harm that comes from them. And (feigned) ignorance after a bit of initial commitment stands in the way of finding solutions. If we don’t know what needs to be handled and how to fight for it, we are doomed to suffer the consequences. Mull that while trying to photograph a Northern Harrier…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Exposed Nest<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Robert Frost<\/a> – 1874-1963<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You were forever finding some new play. 
So when I saw you down on hands and knees 
In the meadow, busy with the new-cut hay, 
Trying, I thought, to set it up on end, 
I went to show you how to make it stay, 
If that was your idea, against the breeze, 
And, if you asked me, even help pretend 
To make it root again and grow afresh. 
But ’twas no make-believe with you to-day, 
Nor was the grass itself your real concern, 
Though I found your hand full of wilted fern, 
Steel-bright June-grass, and blackening heads of clover. 
‘Twas a nest full of young birds on the ground 
The cutter-bar had just gone champing over 
(Miraculously without tasting flesh) 
And left defenseless to the heat and light. 
You wanted to restore them to their right 
Of something interposed between their sight 
And too much world at once\u2014could means be found. 
The way the nest-full every time we stirred 
Stood up to us as to a mother-bird 
Whose coming home has been too long deferred, 
Made me ask would the mother-bird return 
And care for them in such a change of scene 
And might our meddling make her more afraid. 
That was a thing we could not wait to learn. 
We saw the risk we took in doing good, 
But dared not spare to do the best we could 
Though harm should come of it; so built the screen 
You had begun, and gave them back their shade. 
All this to prove we cared. Why is there then 
No more to tell? We turned to other things. 
I haven’t any memory\u2014have you?\u2014
Of ever coming to the place again 
To see if the birds lived the first night through, 
And so at last to learn to use their wings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily the walk provided sights that led to more hopeful thoughts as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Birds that have pretty safe nests:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fearless hares<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And optimistic taggers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here is a beautiful Sonata<\/a> by Delius, composed in the same year as the poem was written. The cellist is outstanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lots of birds on yesterday’s walk, searching for and bringing back nesting materials, some birds in their bright mating colors already. I was reminded of a Robert Frost poem, The Exposed Nest, that provides for me at its core a sense of unease around unresolved moral issues. The poet sees his young companion, perhaps his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-photography","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAll this to prove we cared. - YDP - your daily picture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"All this to prove we cared.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lots of birds on yesterday’s walk, searching for and bringing back nesting materials, some birds in their bright mating colors already. I was reminded of a Robert Frost poem, The Exposed Nest, that provides for me at its core a sense of unease around unresolved moral issues. The poet sees his young companion, perhaps his […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"YDP - your daily picture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-24T14:36:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-24T14:36:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1378\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"friderikeheuer@gmail.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"friderikeheuer@gmail.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"friderikeheuer@gmail.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/07f5e2e1a464989019d5d8f7e126dd80\"},\"headline\":\"All this to prove we cared.\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-24T14:36:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-24T14:36:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125\"},\"wordCount\":896,\"commentCount\":3,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1\",\"articleSection\":[\"Bird Photography\",\"Poetry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125\",\"name\":\"All this to prove we cared. - YDP - your daily picture\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-24T14:36:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-24T14:36:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/07f5e2e1a464989019d5d8f7e126dd80\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1\",\"width\":1378,\"height\":1800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"All this to prove we cared.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/\",\"name\":\"YDP - your daily picture\",\"description\":\"your daily picture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/07f5e2e1a464989019d5d8f7e126dd80\",\"name\":\"friderikeheuer@gmail.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44fa0fb05b030d7e5d5622a6018f585b45be32c599a49759dfabc96679686aec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44fa0fb05b030d7e5d5622a6018f585b45be32c599a49759dfabc96679686aec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44fa0fb05b030d7e5d5622a6018f585b45be32c599a49759dfabc96679686aec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"friderikeheuer@gmail.com\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"All this to prove we cared. - YDP - your daily picture","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"All this to prove we cared.","og_description":"Lots of birds on yesterday’s walk, searching for and bringing back nesting materials, some birds in their bright mating colors already. I was reminded of a Robert Frost poem, The Exposed Nest, that provides for me at its core a sense of unease around unresolved moral issues. The poet sees his young companion, perhaps his […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125","og_site_name":"YDP - your daily picture","article_published_time":"2020-04-24T14:36:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-24T14:36:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1378,"height":1800,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"friderikeheuer@gmail.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"friderikeheuer@gmail.com","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125"},"author":{"name":"friderikeheuer@gmail.com","@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/07f5e2e1a464989019d5d8f7e126dd80"},"headline":"All this to prove we cared.","datePublished":"2020-04-24T14:36:55+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-24T14:36:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125"},"wordCount":896,"commentCount":3,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1","articleSection":["Bird Photography","Poetry"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125","url":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125","name":"All this to prove we cared. - YDP - your daily picture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1","datePublished":"2020-04-24T14:36:55+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-24T14:36:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/07f5e2e1a464989019d5d8f7e126dd80"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1","width":1378,"height":1800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=24125#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"All this to prove we cared."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/","name":"YDP - your daily picture","description":"your daily picture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/07f5e2e1a464989019d5d8f7e126dd80","name":"friderikeheuer@gmail.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44fa0fb05b030d7e5d5622a6018f585b45be32c599a49759dfabc96679686aec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44fa0fb05b030d7e5d5622a6018f585b45be32c599a49759dfabc96679686aec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44fa0fb05b030d7e5d5622a6018f585b45be32c599a49759dfabc96679686aec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"friderikeheuer@gmail.com"},"url":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSC_0168-copy.jpg?fit=1378%2C1800&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7tJUX-6h7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24125"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24161,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125\/revisions\/24161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}