basquebromance
Diamond Member
- Nov 26, 2015
- 109,396
- 27,013
- 2,220
- Banned
- #1
Lewis writes in his new memoir:
"if there is a single point of my childhood that provided an early glimpse into my future, what would shape my character and eventually guide me into the heart of the civil rights movement, qualities such as patience, nonviolence, civil disobedience, and willful stubbornness, it would be the time i started taking care of chickens.
i was drawn to chickens because of their absolute innocence. they seemed so defenseless, so simple, so pure. there was a subtle grace and dignity in every movement they made.
people think chickens are the lowest form of life on the farm, stupid, smelly nuisances, awkward comical birds good for nothing but laying eggs and providing meat for the table. maybe it was that outcast status, the very fact that those chickens were so forsaken to everyone else that drew me to them.
i felt as if i had been trusted to care for God's chosen creatures. the henhouse seemed like a holy place to me.
come spring i would spend every spare minute in the henhouse, obsessing over those eggs. the thousands of eggs hatched were warmed as much by hands as by the mother hens.
i felt the need to talk to the chickens, they listened. i'd speak softly, gently, as if i were hushing a crying baby, and very quickly the cackling would subside, until finally the shed was as silent as sanctuary. there was something magical, mystical, about that moment when those dozens of chickens, were looking at me, and i was looking at them, in utter silence. it felt very spiritual, almost religious. i could swear those chickens felt it, too.
i would give them names. there was Lil Pullet, my favorite. she was a big golden brown hen. everywhere i went, Lil Pullet would be right there behind me, like a pet.
that experience taught me discipline and responsibility and patience. the kinship i felt to these living creatures, the compassion, the closeness, is a feeling i carried with me into the world. it might have been a feeling i was born with, but the first time i felt it was with those chickens"
"if there is a single point of my childhood that provided an early glimpse into my future, what would shape my character and eventually guide me into the heart of the civil rights movement, qualities such as patience, nonviolence, civil disobedience, and willful stubbornness, it would be the time i started taking care of chickens.
i was drawn to chickens because of their absolute innocence. they seemed so defenseless, so simple, so pure. there was a subtle grace and dignity in every movement they made.
people think chickens are the lowest form of life on the farm, stupid, smelly nuisances, awkward comical birds good for nothing but laying eggs and providing meat for the table. maybe it was that outcast status, the very fact that those chickens were so forsaken to everyone else that drew me to them.
i felt as if i had been trusted to care for God's chosen creatures. the henhouse seemed like a holy place to me.
come spring i would spend every spare minute in the henhouse, obsessing over those eggs. the thousands of eggs hatched were warmed as much by hands as by the mother hens.
i felt the need to talk to the chickens, they listened. i'd speak softly, gently, as if i were hushing a crying baby, and very quickly the cackling would subside, until finally the shed was as silent as sanctuary. there was something magical, mystical, about that moment when those dozens of chickens, were looking at me, and i was looking at them, in utter silence. it felt very spiritual, almost religious. i could swear those chickens felt it, too.
i would give them names. there was Lil Pullet, my favorite. she was a big golden brown hen. everywhere i went, Lil Pullet would be right there behind me, like a pet.
that experience taught me discipline and responsibility and patience. the kinship i felt to these living creatures, the compassion, the closeness, is a feeling i carried with me into the world. it might have been a feeling i was born with, but the first time i felt it was with those chickens"
His tater's been bakin' way too long.
