The Raptor Rule

Osprey leaving nest

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  ~John 13:34

While some rules are meant to be broken, on the other end of the spectrum are rules that should never need to be written. Breeding season birding big day competitions typically have a “raptor rule.” The rule spells out how you can count a hawk, eagle, or owl on a nest without disturbing it. Usually it entails remaining stationary for the time it would take to get to the nest and back. This rule is often bent, perhaps broken, but not because birders go to the nest anyway. If the rule is used properly, that would be pointless, and it would violate the more important, unwritten rule not to harm the birds. How foolish would it be to show your admiration of birds by behaving in ways that harm the very beings you care about? Like I said, some rules don’t need to be written.

There are other ways to harm birds that are more tempting because of the desire to admire. With easy availability of high quality recordings, playback of a birdsong in the field has become as simple as opening an app on your phone. So it is tempting to lure in birds for a dazzling look, maybe even a photo, by playing their song repeatedly. This is a sure way to upset a male bird on territory, or perhaps lure a female off of the eggs she needs to keep warm. Either way, it presents a risk to successful breeding for the birds involved. On just a logical level, let alone an ethical one, preventing the bird you desire from multiplying is a bad idea.

So it may be possible to act poorly because of love, but it is impossible to love too much. If love is wise and genuine, it regulates itself. That is, love demands that you do no harm, even if the harm is inadvertent and motivated by love in the first place.

I wonder if Jesus smirked a bit when he presented his “new” commandment on Maundy Thursday (that day in holy week gets its name from the Latin meaning commandment)? Because, how “new” is the command to love one another? Perhaps that was the point all along, if you make love your law, you truly don’t need any others.

Prayer: O Love, thank you for the simple instructions. Just please don’t stop filling us with your love (we tend to run low). Amen.