Did the wise old owl have it all figured out?

"A wise old owl lived in an oak.

The more he saw, the less he spoke.

The less he spoke, the more he heard.

Why can’t we be like that wise old bird?"

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The first time I heard this I was sitting in my living room, enjoying a glass of wine and good conversation with some family. My niece and nephew were two and three at the time and we had the "Little Baby Bum" youtube channel on to keep them entertained. The channel plays an endless string of mesmerizing musical nursery rhymes.

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Most of the rhymes were just background noise to me, but one of them made my ears perk up. It was about the wise old owl - the one living in an oak. I stopped and replayed the song a few times. I was blown away by the wisdom and simplicity of it. "The more he saw, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard." 🤯🤯🤯
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It brought up images of Yoda and Mr. Miyagi, who both seemed to always be listening and paying attention to everything, occasionally offering wise old owl level insights.

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It also reminded me of my father, who'd recently died. My dad was a world class listener. He’d ask a question and wait patiently for the answer, then listen to it. He was totally fine with silence. He never seemed to feel the need to fill it with anything.

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Not everyone is like my father, Yoda or Mr. Miyagi. Most of us feel compelled to solve, story swap or disagree as soon as there's a millisecond of silence.

I've been guilty of politely waiting for the other person to stop flapping their lips so I can say my thing, which may or may not be related to their thing.

I bet the wise old owl would be a great innovator. Instead of raving about his ideas for upgraded nests, he'd listen and observe how nests are used. He'd learn about unmet owl needs. Then he'd design a nest that addressed real owl issues.

The nursery rhyme has been stuck in my head (again) ever since I thought about writing this post, and I'm constantly thinking about new settings where it would be a superpower.

What do you think? Did the wise old owl have it all figured out?

Btw, if you want, you can check out the nursery rhyme here. Warning, it might be stuck in your head for a while.