A couple of weeks ago, I was driving through a patch of country with no NPR on the radio, so I scanned the AM dial and found one of those paranormal talk shows where people talk about all kinds of odd things, like theories that ice crystals can hear human voices, signs that fairies are learning to use the Internet, and suggestions that the voices of the dead can be seen with special filters on late night cable television.
On this particular evening, the paranormal talk radio was discussing reports of gigantic winged reptiles flying over the New York State Thruway.
Now, I wasn’t there, so I can’t say for sure that there were not gigantic winged reptiles flying over the New York State Thruway. However, I have serious doubts. I’d like to see some evidence before I even consider believing in such creatures. In the meantime, I’d just as soon forget about them.
Nonetheless, something about the story has stuck in my mind. This radio show must have a good number of listeners for it to stay on the air, so I suppose stories about gigantic flying reptiles must appeal appeal to people. My guess is that people want to believe that there are wonderful, unexpected things in the world.
I want to know why so many people these days need to believe in things like gigantic flying reptiles in order to feel a sense of wonder about the world. Last spring, scientists confirmed that something really wonderful did fly over the New York State Thruway: A flock of sandhill cranes returning to the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge just north of Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes. Sandhill cranes had not been seen in New York State for an entire generation. They had long ago been driven locally extinct.
I believe these reports of the return of sandhill cranes to New York State because I saw the flock with my own eyes, flying over my barn and then heading west. I watched them fly until they went over the horizon, and they were magnificent.
Some people will say that a flock of sandhill cranes returning to New York State just isn’t wonderful enough. They want to see alien monsters, or dinosaurs, or demons from Hell. I say that these people will never be satisfied. Sure, a monster sighting would give them a thrill for a day or two, but then the weird creatures would just blend into a new version of normal for them, and they would sigh a big ho-hum and go back to reading the Weekly World News.
Science has confirmed a huge number of wonderful things all around us: Races of tiny people, exploding insects, lost ancient treasures, dinosaurs living and flying all around us, and on and on and on. If you can’t see the amazing stories that already exist in the true, natural world, your imagination is dead, and no supernatural visitation is going to bring it back to life. /Before we go off searching for legendary phantoms, we need to learn to see the deep texture of the world we take for granted.
