Sunday, May 10, 2015

Missing Kevin Durant


 I don't know anything about basketball so the name is a bit misleading, so let me tell you the story behind the title. 

Last week during 4th block class change I heard a sound outside my classroom window.  It was a bird calling.

One of my students walked in, tilted her head and said "You have a chicken outside your window." 

I lived on a farm long enough to know it wasn't a chicken but I was far too busy loading my bell ringer to look.  A boy following behind her bopped into my room and said: "There's a Killdeer nesting outside." 

Everyone in my room had to go to the window and look then.  Sure enough, right outside my window, only feet from the building was a momma killdeer in her nest.  Killdeer make their nests on the ground.  I didn't know that before she came to rest outside my window. 


We watched her for a few minutes.  Of course half the class had to document this momentous discovery on their phones, and then we went back to French.  It's final's time coming up so we can't spend too long on the Killdeer. 




That night, sometime in the middle of the night I woke in horror!

I had seen the mowers over at the Middle School that morning!  That meant that they would be at the High School pretty soon and if they did, they would destroy this little nest.  I could hardly sleep. 

First thing I sent out an email to the whole staff and asked for some stakes and ribbon.  I wanted to keep the mowers away from the bird's nest. 

My students jumped into this "bird rescue" whole heartedly.  I have a class of almost 30 Students and they were all crowded around the window.  Several faculty members sent me supplies and I sent some boys out to create a barrier for our Killdeer. 

Until the barrier was completely in place, there was no going back to the passé compose.  My students refused to leave the window until our killdeer was safe from the mowers. 

Sure enough, the following morning I heard the sound of the mower outside.  I watched anxiously from our window.  Momma Killdeer was still on her nest (Looking quite perturbed by the whole thing) but because we had made the barrier she was safe. 

At this point someone might say: "What's the big deal?  It's only a bird."  But my question is: of course it's only a bird, but couldn't the same be said about just about anything in the world?  I mean, if we can justifying not doing good when its something insignificant, couldn't we justify this attitude about anything else?  When does "It's just a bird" turn into "It's just a test." or "Its just a grade"?  Could that attitude not grow into "It's just a building", "It's just a flag"or"It's just a job" ?

If we can do something.  Shouldn't we?

A couple of years ago, one of my students grew his hair out long.  All the other boys teased him about it and one day I asked why.  He told me he was giving it to locks of love.  I wanted to know why he was doing it, I thought perhaps he had someone in his family suffered from the disease.  His answer surprised me and I've never forgotten it.

"Because I can Mrs. Crane."  He went on to say: "I may never be a doctor.  I may never discover the cure for cancer.  But I can do this.  This is something I can do right now."

If we know to do good, and we are able.  We should.

Even if it's for "just a bird."

Two of my students creating Mamma Killdeer's barrier before the mowers arrived. 


So Momma Killdeer screeched at my boys for fiddling around her nest, but she did not attack them as they worked.    Elijah decided that since it was a Kill Deer then we should name her Kevin Durant.  KD.  Kill Deer.  Kevin Durant.  Get it?  Anyway, for two days we watched Momma Killdeer AKA Kevin Durant and we couldn't wait to see baby Killdeer running around. 

We even googled Killdeer and learned all about them.  Talk about teaching across the curriculum.  Momma Killdeer act like they're hurt to lead predators away from their nest.  They make their nest on the ground.  They sit on eggs for around 20 days before they hatch.  Within hours of the hatching the baby Killdeer are running around all over and they leave the nest.  The momma Killdeer take the babies away from the nest and never return.  One article even said she would hide the pieces of the egg to keep predators away. 

Gosh, this was exciting! 

The third day Momma Killdeer "Kevin Durant" was gone. 

We were all disappointed, though we are trying to keep it positive.  Perhaps she moved her nest due to all the unwanted attention.  Perhaps the babies hatched and are now somewhere else.  Nobody wants to think that a varmint ate them.  We won't even go there. 

Because, you see, we miss Kevin Durant.  She wasn't "Just a bird" to us.  For two days we were untied in  witnessing the miracle of life, marveling at the tenacity of a mother protecting her young and relishing our ability to help something that couldn't help itself. 

She wasn't 'just a bird' because WE loved her.  WE wanted to protect her and WE went out of our way to do it.  Mamma Killdeer had worth because WE gave her worth.  She was worth something to us. 

And in a very small and humanly understandable way, we glimpsed something very special. 

We saw in our little killdeer what God saw in us. 

Alone, small, lost in our sins and unable to help ourselves, God stepped in and made a way for us to come to Him.   Because He went out of His way to love us, to protect us, and to save us... WE have worth.  He gave us worth.

I miss Kevin Durant, but I am thankful for the lesson I learned from her.  I'm like to pretend but I suppose I'm not as smart as I think... so sometimes God has to talk to me by using something as insignificant as a bird.