Words rhyme and fun sounds ring in your ears like a cheery tune. I wanted to say: Hens and friends and friends of hens but that may be confusing. However, that is quite what I wanted to say. That one may be a friend of a hen, and hens may be friends and better friends than human beings sometimes.

        Alas! As I have no hens remaining in my pen, who would like to be object in my journal? The subject of careful study and observation? When you do a thing, would you care for me to comment, and publicize my approval or disapproval of such a thing that you do and speak? That may be a quick way to lose friends. I don’t think I even want to be the subject of such observation. But it seems in a world where we do not escape the consequences of our own behavior (whether good or bad), observation of oneself and behavior may be the antidote to chaos.

This is a seed of hope. Honesty is required. But how does one know what is honest or true unless it has an objective standard to measure itself against? Plato plays a role in the pursuit of truth- because he believed there existed a higher realm of experience worth knowing. Like Forrest, Forrest Gump says, “That is all I have to say about that.” Perhaps objective trial and error experimentation will do?

So, what lesson can we glean from hen experience? The world can be scary and awful, adversarial to hens’ well-being. The hens can’t be responsible for the “world” so to speak because they have no authority in it. They are conveniently low on the scale of things that matter. Too low in my opinion. Hens have their own “natures” – habits, personalities, strengths, and weaknesses.

No hen can be the “uber- hen” without the cooperation and respect of the other hens (since qualities and characteristics of hens that are beneficial are distributed throughout the hen population.) Neitsche was wrong. Being an “Uberman” or “Uberhen” isn’t the goal of life. Power!!

Isn’t the hen at the top that is always pecking the others a dis-likable creature? How did this generation forget the adage, or -ism, or proverb: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”?

Moses had it correct when he prophesied the strong should serve the weak (Ten Commandments). In this world the weak are made to serve the strong. That does not make sense. Copper served the well-being of her friends, and she was happy, and all was well.

See what I mean about hens and friends and friends of hens? Anyone who doesn’t love hens is NO friend of mine.