The Turkey

As the late fall light slanted through the window of my third grade classroom at The Brayton School, I placed my left hand on brown construction paper, splayed my fingers out as wide as they would go and traced my hand, bumping over each finger tip and then around the curve of the thumb. I cut along the outline with scissors and reached into the back of my desk for my small box of Crayola Crayons. I chose a different color for each finger - crimson red, burnt orange, canary yellow, forest green - and put a smiling face on the thumb. My Thanksgiving turkey was done.

Ben Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey. He felt the predatory nature of an eagle to be an unsuitable symbol for America. An eagle will grab prey right out of the mouth of another bird while in flight. It is an aggressive predator.

Turkeys are peaceful, they gather in groups and when roosting, sit in the lowest branches of a tree. Eagles choose the highest point of a tree for their nests. I stood under an eagle's nest on an island in Maine and was amazed by the detritus piled on the ground below - small carcasses, bones, muscle shells, twigs gathered and never used, white droppings. The eagle is a slob! The vegetarian turkey is communal and resourceful, grazing for food on the ground. A locavore.

Ben Franklin had a point. The way we begin can determine how we continue. Perhaps the history of this country would be a little different if there had been a golden turkey at the top of every flag pole rather than an eagle. School children would imagine peace as they saluted the American flag. Instead of eating it on Thanksgiving, perhaps we should be honoring the most peaceful of creatures; the wild turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Postscript: while looking for a graphic to go with this post, I came across a drawing that I had done a few years ago. I guess that most earliest of art projects, the turkey, made a lasting impression on me.