Building a secure nest

LARRY ANDERSON
Larry Anderson

I am not a bird watcher, but I did notice recently a pair of Baltimore orioles industriously constructing a nest in my neighbor’s walnut tree. Their excitement told me they were preparing for a family, so I kept an eye on them while admiring their teamwork.

I couldn’t see babies in the nest, but the parents’ behavior told me when the little ones had arrived. The pair began defending not only the nest itself but the surrounding area. They swooped down on an offending squirrel, driving it back to the park where it belonged; they double teamed a blue jay and became noisily alarmed when an uninterested cat invaded their territory.

Once, when I stepped onto the front porch to see if I could spot the birds, one landed on the rail a few feet away and informed me unequivocally I was not to come near the nest. They drove away robins and blackbirds daily.

Even though I never saw the children, I believe they left the nest safely. Now empty nesters, the adults left too. My theory is they followed the kids to Kansas City where they work for Cerner.

These fearless little creatures provide a lesson. Isn’t it interesting that those with the brain of a bird understand it is necessary at times to aggressively defend one’s home if the kids are to be safe? How is it such a simple instinctive thing escapes so many?

Birds, of course, aren’t political, but they know a cat is a cat and will do what cats do.

Understand, Donald Trump is trying to protect everyone’s nest and the country that surrounds it from those who would do it harm. He understands a president’s first priority is protection of the homeland. He remarks on this regularly.

His detractors deliberately don’t hear. They don’t remember 9/ll as Trump, a New Yorker, does, nor do they wish to see the world in terms so basic. They see only racism as they define it and political opportunity.

Trump wants our federal immigration laws enforced. His rationale in enforcement isn’t to be mean as those who despise him insist, but to end the mockery directed at our laws, borders and autonomy.

I support Trump’s efforts. I also support legal immigration when regulated with American interests foremost.

As a citizen, I obey the laws of the land. I don’t think it is unreasonable for those who aren’t citizens to respect our laws enough to follow legal procedure. America isn’t a pie to be divvied to whoever wants a piece.

And, yes, conservative opinions matter too.

Those on the left, however, have made it clear those of us who want national security and immigration law enforcement are not only morally deficient but mentally unhinged. States liberal columnist Kathleen Parker: “Today, about a third of the nation’s population seems to be suffering from a reality discernment malfunction….when Trump speaks in his fourth grade, monosyllabic, syntax-challenged verbiage, they hear lyrical lucidity.”

Parker isn’t insulting Trump alone; she is also attacking those who hold an opinion different from hers as delusional. Her intimation is people who voted for and support Trump’s efforts are stupid. Indeed, we can’t discern reality the way liberals do, because, apparently, they are blessed with peculiar insights others can’t grasp.

Parker and other liberals believe only their point of view is correct. There is no room for challenges, no opportunity for dialogue, no hope for common ground.

That attitude projected relentlessly and smugly is why Trump won, but it is also why immigration reform is stalled for now. The left’s primary interest is preservation of untenable social stances.

The Baltimore orioles were correct in their defense of their own. Trump is too. Remember them next election.

In the interim, forget the left. They don’t know how to build anything, and all they are interested in protecting is themselves and what’s left of their ideology, ruptured now by loss and failure.

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator, author and Bearcat.