Mount Vernon High School

April 11, 2025 Same Approach, Same Results Stand quietly anywhere in my house the last few weeks, and it won’t be long before you hear it. Clunk. It’s become the soundtrack of life in our home, a sound delivered so consistently we barely notice it anymore. Clunk. Walk into the back room, look left out the side window, and there you’ll find the offender. A bright red cardinal sits on a branch only a foot from the glass, peering intently at the problem staring back at him. His head twitches to a different angle, but his eyes never leave his reflection. Another twitch signals his growing agitation. He looks. He waits. And then? He attacks! Head first into the window he flies. Clunk. He flutters, then recovers back to the branch. He shakes out the cobwebs, resets, and begins the painful process all over again. This rare occurrence is known in ornithology (the study of birds) as image fighting. During the spring season, a number of species, including cardinals, become increasingly more territorial. When they detect a competitor in their midst - or even just the image of what they think is a competitor in the window - they instinctively attack. Despite their repeated failure to effectively address the issue, they remain incapable of adapting, and thus continue what can only be described as an excruciating exercise in futility. Clunk. Observing this unique bird behavior the last few weeks got me thinking about the way many of us have a tendency to address the threats and problems and challenges we face in our own lives, and the somewhat mindless and futile approach we so often adopt. It doesn’t matter who we are or what work we’ve made important, each one of us has threats to deal with, problems to solve, and challenges to overcome. And while we’d love to give ourselves more credit than this, many of us have to admit that in those moments of testing, we often mimic the bird-brained behavior of our feathered friends. Clunk. We beat our head against a wall, trying to solve the same old problems with the same ineffective solutions. Despite our repeated failure to effectively address those issues, we remain unwilling to adapt. For a bird we call that an exercise in futility. For us it might be more appropriately described as an exercise in insanity, what Albert Einstein defined as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Clunk. The truth is, the cardinal is incapable of adapting. That makes his repeated behavior somewhat sad. We, on the other hand, are capable...but unwilling. That makes our repeated behavior somewhat embarrassing. But it’s the truth. We are capable of better. If we really want to take a different approach? We can. If we really want to build more self-awareness, and use it to clarify where our improvement is both possible and necessary? We can. If we really want to make the difficult but important changes that becoming our best requires us to make? We can. I’m sharing this simple story today - and the word of challenge and encouragement that goes with it - simply because it’s a word I needed to hear, and I thought maybe one that could benefit you, too. I’ve been sitting around waiting and wondering if the annoying clunk of that cardinal was ever gonna go away. But writing this week has highlighted the simple truth we all need to accept, that instead of sitting around hoping change happens, each one of us needs to be more committed to making it happen. So that’s what I did, and I’m anticipating that things will be different - better - moving forward. In the important areas of life and performance, I hope you’ll consider doing the same.  -Travis