Hope does have feathers!

"Hope" is the thing with feathers, was the title of a piece i wrote here back on June 11, 2008..... it has blown my mind to say the least and today i'm revisiting that topic for Hope has dropped in on my life and she has feathers.

Researchers determined in the 1990's that the Delmarva Peninsula in Virginia was an important fueling stop for Whimbrel's during their seasonal migration. The area has an abundance of fiddler crabs that the birds would use to build up reserves to get them to their arctic breeding grounds. Scientists wanted to track the migration because Whimbrels have been experiencing dramatic declines in their populations for decades. The focus of this research was to identify the traditional summer breeding areas in the arctic.

The first Whimbrels released with satellite transmitters in Virgina left in 2008. After tracking those original Whimbrels last year, scientists realized their understanding of Atlantic Whimbrels breeding in the south and west sides of the Hudson Bay and Pacific Whimbrels breeding in Alaska and the Northwest Territories had to be revised. Winnie, who was released in 2008, was a western bird taking an eastern route, which no one expected. Hope is also a western bird taking an eastern route.

May 19, 2009.......... Hope was released in Virginia after having been outfitted with a satellite transmitter that is powered by the sun...... by the 28th of May she was detected in Canada heading north. By late June she had already skirted along the southern shore of the Hudson Bay across Northern Canada(Northwest Territories) and over to the edge of the Beaufort sea on the border between Alaska and Canada. It appears she was around Mackenzie Bay. Here she turned around followed almost the same track back across the Northwest Territories but made a northern turn and ended up on the island of Southampton in the Hudson Bay. It looks like she may have spent a few days around Southampton before flying straight south across the Hudson Bay and into James Bay. Here she hit land and went across towards Montreal and Quebec where she popped back out along the Atlantic somewhere in Maine.

From here she went back out to sea on the 10th of August and made an incredible journey over the Atlantic to the West Indies where she landed on St. Croix around the 15th of August. We found her August 21st at Great Pond and to say the least felt like we had won the birder's lottery.
http://www.ccb-wm.org/programs/migration/Whimbrel/whimbrel.htm

Map of travel

i think Hope dropped in here for more than one reason. Hope came to establish the migratory pattern of these birds and to reinforce the need for all of us on St. Croix to work towards protecting the migratory habitat of these world travelers. We are part and parcel of a pathway that supplies traveling birds with the fuel they need to carry them on their journeys to their winter grounds. St. Croix serve's as a stop over(staging area) after traveling thousands of miles across the Atlantic. They need area's that can supply them with nourishment and if we continue to degrade their habitats they will become extinct. Great Pond, where Hope has been for the past 8 days, is one of the largest and most important wetlands in the US Virgin Islands, many shorebirds and warblers aside from Whimbrels stop in here on their migrations. Unfortunately, Great Pond is not receiving adequate protection.
Hope, is by far more potent than many of the evils Pandora let out of the box. When Pandora revisited that box after releasing lying, slander, vanity, greed, pinning and envy she released Hope to give individuals freedom to change the social circumstances of their lives and others.

Fighting to realize those challenges is what i'm doing here, whether the topic is violence, how to get along, habitat protection or health care, Hope the bird has dropped in to remind me to revisit an important theme.


i think Hope impacted my life in order to reinforce the need for social change. Nature and man go together but we argue over it. We need to provide for both. There is more than simple synchronicity or coincidence going on here. How in the world did i know i would actually meet a bird called Hope, a bird that has traveled far and wide, when i wrote about the topic of hope a year ago and titled it " Hope is the thing with feathers?"

Jesus spread his word while also impacting the citizenry of his time through healing. i've looked over the list of miracles. i list them here so you can review them.

* Turning water into wine (John 2:1-11)
* Healing of a nobleman's son (John 4:46-54)
* Delivering a man in the synagogue from demonic spirits (Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37)
* Healing Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31; Luke 4:38-39; Matthew 8:14-15)
* The first of two nets of fish and the calling of His first disciples (Luke 5:1-11)
* Cleansing a leper (Mark 1:40-45; Matthew 8:1-4)
* Healing a paralytic (Mark 2:1-12; Matthew 9:2-8; Luke 5:17-26)
* Healing of the man at Bethesda (John 5:1-15)
* Healing a man with a withered hand (Luke 6:6-11; Matthew 12:9-13; Mark 3:1-5)
* Healing the Centurion's servant (Luke 7: 1-10; Matthew 8:5-13)
* Raising the widow's son (Luke 7:11-16)
* Casting out a dumb and blind spirit (Luke 11:14-26; Matthew 12:22-32; Mark 3:22-30)
* Calming a storm (Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 8:18-27; Luke 8:22-25)
* Healing a man possessed by demons at Gadara (Mark 5:1-20; Matthew 8:28; Luke 8:26)
* Healing a woman with an issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34; Matthew 9:18-26; Luke 8:40-56)
* Raising Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:21-43)
* Healing of two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31
* Casting out a spirit (Matthew 9:32-34)
* Feeding 5,000 with five loaves and two fish (John 6:1-14; Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17)
* Walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33; John 6:15-21; Mark 6:45-52)
* Delivering the Syrophoenician's daughter (Matthew 15:21-28)
* Healing a deaf and dumb man (Mark 7:31-37)
* Feeding another 4,000-plus (Mark 8:1-10; Matthew 15:32)
* Healing the blind man of Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)
* Casting demons out of a lunatic boy (Mark 9:14-29; Matthew 17:14-21; Luke 9:37-42)
* Pulling a coin from the mouth of a fish (Matthew 17:24-27)
* Healing a man born blind (John 9:1-41)
* Healing a woman with an 18-year infirmity (Luke 13:10-17)
* Healing a man with dropsy (or edema) (Luke 14:1-6)
* Raising Lazarus (John 11:1-46)
* Cleansing of ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19)
* Healing blind Bartimeaus (Mark 10:46-52)
* Cursing the fig tree (Mark 11:12-26)
* Healing of Malchus' ear (Luke 22:49-51)
* A second net of fish (John 21:1-12)

Out of 35 miracles 24 revolved around healing the sick. That is a lot of miracles for healing! Jesus had compassion which is more than many so called "Conservative's" have today. Doesn't he teach us to care for the sick in his place?

Some will say, "Why don't you ask how your neighbors are doing and offer to help them?" Well, we ask how they are doing and they tell us, "Fine". American culture at this point is not conducive to helping your neighbors. We don't even know what's really going on with them. Let alone be able to supply them with enough money to get an operation.

This antiquated notion that government helps the most by getting out of the way of progress is an insult to fair-minded people everywhere. Is this great nation called the USA unable and unwilling to act humanely towards humans or nature? We can spend more money on our military than any other nation, in fact more than all the other nations in the world combined, money for weapons and war but health care must be self supported and self supporting?

How about we kick every single government-hating republican out of government! Because, at the end of the day, if you hate government enough to declare that it is ineffective and useless...perhaps you shouldn't be trying to steer the damn ship, seeing as you'd rather sink it! Imagine.......just really try to imagine a business hiring an employee that was out to destroy it?

Just a thought.

We claim to be a Christian Nation first.........what better way to move Jesus' work forward in the USA than by creating an environment where all resident human beings have equal access to affordable health care? It's the nation's deeds, not their words that broadcast our humanity and set the stage for others to emulate. Government can work for all if it is supported by people that believe in it.

Do your part for Jesus if nothing else and support an American Health Plan, one that includes an American public option. Hope is here...she has stopped in and she wants us to fight for what is right for nature and for man.