When Even A Mouse Can Prevail
As we eased down Prince Street a few days ago, a huge red-tailed hawk swooped past, inching lower and lower with slow, powerful wing beats. Flying almost parallel to the street, he gradually crossed over, oblivious to oncoming traffic. Upon dropping to almost grass level, he entered an open area near the high school campus. Then in full stealth mode, sharp talons silently deployed and snatched an unsuspecting rodent right out of the bushes.
He had spotted his tiny prey from a quarter-mile away and had steadily closed the gap, completely unobserved. With target in view, his course never deviated.
Being born a small rodent or snake in hawk territory bestows an unhealthy heritage. For living, or trying to live, smack-dab in the forefront of the food chain of a deadeye carnivore is not an unenviable position to occupy.
Still, instant destruction is not a given--even for a field mouse. Though favorites of hawks, foxes and barn owls, field mice wear brown camouflage right on their skins and enjoy the protection of underground burrows.
The red-tailed hawk has an advantage: splendid visual acuity eight times better than that of the human. Nevertheless, collisions with automobiles rank high as sources of injury and death for these sharp-eyed predators that fly through traffic in pursuit of prey. Besides vehicles, firearms and pesticides increase hawk mortality. So even predators must face their own enemies.
More often than not, today for example, I envision myself a mouse in a world of hawks. Favorable circumstances breed careless living--until the talons of unexpected trouble pierce my hide. Better to be the heavyweight in this balance of power I reason.
For as predator, my objective would draw keenly into focus, even at a great distance. And it would abide there, stationary and inviting, awaiting my eventual arrival. Closure need not be fast, just steady. And like low-hanging plums ready for the plucking, immediate gratification.
Were the full truth known, the picture comes in clearer. Imagine the absurdity of a red-tailed hawk trying to drag away a cow. The recipe of success demands critical ingredients: matching goals to abilities, exercising patience, ignoring nearby interference. All combine to make the predator's job appear deceptively trivial and easily assured. But he can be foiled.
On my "mouse" days, I acknowledge this given: life is fraught with unavoidable twists and turns, even dangers too great for me. But the Bible pinpoints my "hawk"--and my protection against him. "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
And though he come in full stealth mode, silently closing the gap between predator and prey, a sober spirit and alertness to his ways are my friends. They subvert his intentions to search and destroy, to take advantage of weakness and discouragement, to get the upper hand. Even a mouse can prevail.
Copyright 2003 James McAlister
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