There should be heroes

To soar above us!

(and not slither in the slime)

For good reason is the eagle our national emblem and not the earthworm, useful though those burrowers be. On this beautiful Sunday we come not to bury Flaco but to praise him. We salute the Eurasian eagle-owl that some scofflaw released from a zoo freeing the bird to soar between the skyscrapers of New York City. 

Residents in the city’s high rises recount the large bird peering intently through the glass and into their living rooms with its huge eyes. A city infamous for walking heads-down on the busy streets were now lifted upward in hopes of an inspiring glimpse. Friendships formed in common admiration. Flaco’s soaring escapades and defiance of confinement pushed war and famine off page one.

Flaco the owl flew headlong into one of those skyscrapers Friday 02-23-24 and plunged to the earth for the last time, dead. The New York Times rhapsodized:

The city loved Flaco because he represented so much of New York’s spirit and ideals, which we may not always live up to but we recognize on sight. … Day after day, he hooted, fluffed and spread his magnificent wings and flew above our heads, resisting all the naysayers. New York, the city that lives and thrives with all its complexity and mess, the destination of millions in defiance of all the predictions of its demise, immediately recognized one of its own and embraced him.

The free bird with the six-foot wingspan encountered risks not found in captivity, where feeding time is clockwork (if not orange). The scurrying rats it scooped from fetid alleyways might carry traces of poison. He risked being crushed on pavement clogged with heedless traffic. All that towering glass — reflecting the clear-blue sky — disorients. We are told the four-pound bird could have lived twice as long in captivity than in the wild. But what kind of life? Flaco chose to fly even if it meant he would die sooner rather than later.

The Werkes does not condone releasing animals from confinement, whether hogs from the barnyard, minks from their cages, or polar bears from their enclosures. But maybe we quit with the poison and encourage more hawks, falcons, kestrels, and osprey.

Blaska’s Bottom Line: Flaco the Eurasian eagle owl explains Alexei Navalny, Volodymyr Zelensky, Lech Wałęsa, Audie Murphy, Sgt. York, Sojourner Truth, Patrick Henry, Spartacus, Moses and — you knew this was coming — Nikki Haley, who is now being portrayed as a witch and a whore (among other tropes) on our social media feed by the many MAGA haters emulating their hero.

Can we look up, rather than down?