“I May Be Crazy ~ But it Keeps Me From Going Insane””
Dear Bank of Prairie Village Shareholders and Clients ~
This past month I was sitting with Mom in Salina on an April Sunday Morning. We were both drinking coffee and reading the paper. Dad was still in bed. Mom was in her favorite chair, and I on the Sofa with my back to the large window overlooking my folk’s backyard.
This tranquil Mother/Son moment was interrupted when I heard a thump against the window behind me. I checked to see if Mom heard it. She did not look up.
I was pretty sure some poor bird had flown into the window. I surreptitiously turned to check out the window. There was no dead bird below the windowsill; I was relieved as Mom gets emotional when any of her backyard wildlife suddenly meets its demise.
After about two minutes, I heard another thump about in the same location. Again, I checked. This time I tried to decide if maybe there was a branch hitting the window from the Wind. Again, there wasn’t a dead bird under the windowsill. The bushes and tree branches had been cut back. All seemed normal, and again Mom did not look up.
Yet another two minutes went by, when again there was a third thump. Now I was beyond annoyed and intrigued. Throwing the curtain back fully I surveyed the ground and the bushes. Again, all seemed in order. Then I noticed him.
About 10 yards away from the window preached on a nearby tree was highly agitated Blue Jay ruffling his feathers and staring wild-eyed at Mom’s backyard window. For a moment, I thought we locked eyes~ one Alpha Male to another in a dominance challenge. He was not happy, but his malevolent stare not at me, but whatever he thought he saw reflecting back in Mom’s window.
At this point I told Mom, “A highly agitated Blue Jay seems to be repeatedly dive bombing your back window.”
Without look up Mom said, “Oh you must mean Crazy Jay. He does that every morning. He sees his reflection in the window, thinks it is some rival to his domain and attacks what he thinks is his perceived challenger. This will go one for about thirty minutes until the sun shifts and Crazy Jay thinks he has vanquished his nemesis.
As if on cue, there was another thump at the window. Mom did not even flinch. I watched as “Crazy Jay, returned to his beloved branch, shook himself off as if punch drunk concussed attempting to regain his senses.
Then Crazy Jay turned around to resurvey the window. He stared in disbelief, realizing his imaginary rival was still there staring back and challenging him. Undeterred Crazy Jay prepared for his next attack like a bull, stomping his feet and snorting, as he regaining his strength for another dive bombing.
Mom was acting as if everything was normal. I must confess her commonness at what I thought was a freak a nature was a bit unsettling to me.
Not sure how to ask the question, I finally blurted out, Mom is that Crazy Jay window bombing something like a normal event here in the morning? Mom looked up as if I was a bit dense. She nodded and said, “Crazy Jay sees the reflection, thinks it is his mortal enemy, charges him, returns to his branch. This will go on about every two minutes or so for thirty minutes until the sun shifts.”
I looked at Mom in disbelief as she logically explained the progression of what I view as a freak of nature by a punch-drunk Jay Bird.
“Mom you are saying this happens daily?” Mom responded, “Oh yes Danny. After about 30 minutes, Crazy Jay thinks he has won for the day against his first enemy and then moves to sitting on the Bird feeder for about a half hour. However, when the sun shifts to the midsection of the yard Crazy Jay sees his refection, on the polished brass kickplate on our back door. He then thinks it is yet another enemy bird challenging him. At this point he will start dive-bombing the kick plate every two minutes or so, until the sun shifts from there.”
Again, she said it in such a matter-of-fact tone, I was beginning to think I was the crazy one for thinking this bird and his daily dive bombing his shadow was anything abnormal.
Things calmed down for a while, but just as I had finished my coffee, and started to leave for the office, I heard the first thump on the back door kick plate. Just as Mom described, Crazy Jay was beginning his second morning routine, fighting off yet another imaginary rival with a bone crushing thump.
Mom looked up and said, “He is starting just a few minutes late today on the brass kick plate.”
Heading to the office, I thought about how nutty things were getting at my parents’ home. Mom was measuring her morning routine listening to a crazy Blue Jay bodily flaying
himself against imaginary inanimate objects to defend his imaginary power, position and domain.
As I drove to my Salina office I again contemplated whether 1) I was crazy for thinking this was a strange, 2) my parents were crazy for thinking this was normal 3) the bird was crazy for thinking he could change something he could not, or 4) was the whole world crazy~ for failing to point out the illogicalness of repetitive actions generating the same unproductive outcomes.
Once at the office, I put the whole matter aside and got to work to do the paperwork catch-up chase for which Sunday afternoons seem to be made.
However, on the Sunday Night Drive home to Kansas City, somewhere in the Flint Hills, the “crazy question” came back to me.
I had to admit to myself there was more to Mom’s Crazy Jay story than I wanted to acknowledge.
Although the Jay Bird was clearly nuts for spending his morning bashing his head against an inanimate object which only he thought was a personal threat which, by definition was a crazy act~ I forced myself to ask if his morning routine was really that much different than mine.
How many mornings and hours do I not do the same thing?
Crazy Jay spends his mornings banging his head against the window “to teach his reflection respect.”
Similarly, I spend my early mornings vigorously reading the national and local news, muttering most of the time, about how absurd, this political activity is, or how inept most of society is in understanding basic economics.
I mentally argue with the paper, the writer and all the other readers, ~ who of course don’t hear my arguments and could not care less about my opinions.
Am I not banging my head against the proverbial windowpane~ arguing at my reflection? Am I not wasting the same time, effort and energy as Crazy Jay? At least he gets delusional satisfaction, each morning he has vanquished his challenger. I just slam the newspaper or my phone down against the table in frustration.
I can make the same comment about my road rage. I might spend miles ranting against what I think is an incurious, or non-courteous driver I just passed, as the later, oblivious to my ranting happily continues driving down the highway enjoying the day.
Most Football Saturdays and Sundays I spend hours watching the TV screaming at players, coaches, and referees appearing on my big screen. Although, my screaming makes everyone in my home very uncomfortable, the players, coaches and referees surely do not hear nor care about my brilliant sideline comments and observations. I might as well be screaming at my Folks backyard window at my reflection.
In short, like head banging Crazy Jay, I spend hours of my day engaged in unproductive emotional and mental bashing against unfeeling and uncaring inanimate objects. Technically I am as “bird brained concussed” as “Crazy Jay” ~ and just as productive.
Lesson to be learned~ before calling anyone or any wildlife crazy, reflect back on yourself and your daily activities. Think hard. Be honest. Is there some things we all do in our daily routines which waste our time and energy and is not productive in changing the outcome we are seeking? Why do we do them? Perhaps, it just makes us feel better even if it does not change anything.
Currently playing on the radio is a new country song with the lyrics, “I may be crazy, but it keeps me from going insane.”
For whatever reason~ after watching and reflecting on Crazy Jay’s head bashing bombing and my daily news ranting morning routines~ I’ve come to the realization that perhaps both our crazy routines help keep us from going insane in an otherwise crazy world.
Whatever our morning routine idiosyncrasies, be it head bashing or news lashing, let’s remember not to be so engrossed, we overlook the wonders of this fine
Spring Season. It is time to smell the flowers brought to us by the April Showers.
Yours in a great Spring.
Dan Bolen ~ Chairman
Bank of Prairie Village
“The Bank of Prairie Village ~ Home of Blue Lion Banking” ~ cited March 2020, April 2021, April 2022, April 2023 and April 2024 by the by the Kansas City Business Journal as one of the “Safest Banks in Kansas City for Your Money.”
Small Batch Banking ~ Once Client at a Time.
