Moss Landing, California
“Attention is the beginning of devotion.” — Mary Oliver
We share our neighborhood with a community of ravens. In the early morning, we can hear them broadcasting the local news, their caws echoing from three or four directions, answering the raven sitting on our roof, the one we’ve named Shanti.
There was a time when people understood that they lived within the natural world, not apart from it. A herd of deer was more than a scattering of animals moving across the landscape. It was a community of mothers and fathers, young ones, aunts and uncles who lived in a neighborhood just like we do. They knew where to find food and water and where it was safe to rest, in the same way we know our neighborhood, our favorite grocery store, and where our friends live.
Many Indigenous peoples of North America regarded animals not as separate from humanity, but as relatives—fellow members of the living world. The late Native American actor and elder Saginaw Grant once said, “There was a time we could converse with one another.”
I’ve often thought about what he meant. Maybe it suggests a deeper connection than what we usually think of as language, something like that feeling we get deep inside when we understand what’s being said without the need for words. We know this from living with our pets. We begin to recognize their habits, moods, and warnings, a level of understanding we don’t often think of as conversing.
That kind of relationship with the wild world isn’t lost to us. Even in the city, without much effort, it’s possible to become familiar with the wildlife. We have a pair of twin squirrels that began showing up six weeks ago, and we’ve been watching them grow into their impressive long tails. They’re no longer simply “squirrels.” We look for them, feed them nuts, and talk about them like they’re our new neighbors. And that changes something.
It is easier to be indifferent to “wildlife” than it is to a creature you have come to know. Caring for the natural world can begin with noticing who’s already living beside us. We have always had wild neighbors.