On a spring morning in the Hudson Valley, the sound of chorus frogs—tiny “cross-bearers” whose song echoes the spirit of Easter—sets the tone for a reflection on renewal, truth, and self-awareness. In this episode, Stephen Bauman contrasts the quiet wisdom of nature with the noise of public life, exploring the dangers of unchecked incompetence and the enduring call to “know thyself.” Holding together beauty, bewilderment, and responsibility, he invites us to recommit to humility, honesty, and what is ultimately real.
Transcript:
It’s a beautiful spring day here in the Hudson Valley--fostering an appropriate-seeming post-Easter feeling--hopeful, affirming of renewal. And that feeling is accompanied by the chorus of awakening peepers. For you city folks that’s the music of the small chorus frog, scientific name, pseudacris crucifer--crucifer meaning cross-bearing, a reference to a pattern naturally inscribed on each one. Each frog, a cross-bearer. That their song suddenly pops up in the season of Easter has been likened to an expression of resurrection. That works for me. That’s the spirit of the moment I’m in.
Which, I confess, contrasts dramatically with the libretto our president offered Easter morning laced with expletives, threats and taunting sarcasm. Is it worth repeating? Maybe not. But I’m thinking we shouldn’t forget it either. “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F------ Strait, you crazy b******s, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” That he walked back the wild threat yesterday does not erase the impact of its content and timing. Utterly bewildering. Thank God I have the music of chorus frogs on a beautiful spring day to keep me on track with what matters most.
But now stay with me here, because what came to mind from out of left field was a study I read concerning human competency. Not surprisingly researchers discovered that persons who are deemed incompetent by a reasonable standard to not believe that they are. They rate themselves as quite capable. In other words, incompetent people don’t know that they’re incompetent and probably won’t believe it if you tell them. That’s one of the marks of incompetence. Let your focus wander for a moment over our current public landscape to see if anyone comes to mind...
But as you do that, don’t wait too long to remember that all of us have our relative strengths and weaknesses and blindnesses; that the trick to living in the real world is to be as objective as we can about this. “Know thyself” is the maxim inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in ancient Greece, meaning, that understanding oneself is essential for wisdom and personal growth, underscoring the importance of self-awareness, recognizing one’s limits and abilities. The people I have most admired over the years are constant learners. They have not believed they had it all or knew it all. Some have had quite of lot of power, some have not. What they have all shared was the humility to see what was true, especially--to the best of their ability--what was true about themselves.
So, here’s where that leaves me today: attempting to hold several massively contrasting things simultaneously -- a chorus of cross-bearing peepers celebrating the possibility of resurrection on a beautiful spring day; the bewildering, incompetent diatribe of our President; and the sustaining awareness that I owe it to myself, to those I love and to the community at large to renew my commitment to honoring what is true and real.
