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 Have
you ever talked to a lizard? I don’t mean about evolution, or
art, or even politics. Lizards don’t know about those things,
any more than we. I mean about important things, like the
weather, or flies, or “Why do you brag so much when you’re
just an ol’ rusty lizard?” Things like that.
If
you will approach with caution, and speak in a normal tone of
voice, and not crowd them too closely, they will listen better
than humans — whom we approach with a rush of zealous fire,
and yell at, and step on. Lizards have a lot of feeling. We must
be considerate of their rights if we expect to get a hearing.
Sometimes,
like early in the morning, you will find them cold, or taking a
nap. You can talk your head off then, and get no more response
than that of a pew-warmer. If you try to stomp them awake they
take off in a huff, and probably never know what the excitement
was all about. Very little reasoning takes place in a situation
like that. Sometimes one will run just because another did. Man,
they are almost human!
Best
way to have a real rap session is to get on their level. You don’t
have to catch gnats or take a hypocritical condescending
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attitude. But you should try to
understand the lizard viewpoint. One of my best conversations
began quite casually. I just happened to be drifting in the warm
spring sun: admiring wild flowers, wondering where that passing
cloud was going; and there was 0l’ Rusty, perched on a dead
limb, apparently watching the same cloud. It was a relaxed
situation, we had common interests, and we both learned a lot.
Rusty
explained about the bragging That pumping up and down was just
his way of cooling off in hot weather, or getting his blood to
flow better in cold weather, or maybe looking for a fly. I
explained about my grandchild chasing him — she was just
young, and wanted to play. “No hard feelings,” Rusty said,
by cocking his head and blinking his eyes. You see how frank
discussion helps mutual understanding?
We
had a great Bible study: head-nodding, eye blinking, Tom
tinkering. The gospel for Rusty was simple. He trusted his
Maker, and did what God directed. In that frame he loved me, and
I loved him. But there warm compromise. Lizards would be
baptized if the Lord wanted it that way.
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