Joe Hutto did not raise the turkeys as pets, he spent nearly two years with them in the wild, without human contact, learning of their ways. He "roosted" with them, watched a couple of them die of an illness, and served as their mother. The PBS special is unbelievable. Throughout the hour he recounts almost a day by day description of what happened, and the videographer working with him captures photos of nature that also re-create the two years. I couldn't be a naturist like Hutto, but what I would love to be able to capture photos like this.
I won't give away the ending of the show, but suffice it to say, these were wild turkeys who lived out their lives in the wild. Joe was an important part of their lives, but he did not remove the intrinsic knowledge they possessed, nor did he influence how their lives would be led. In fact, they influenced him. My favorite part of the show was when he talked about how the turkeys lived in the moment, not the past, not the future.
"So many of us live either in the past or the future and betray the moment. And in some sense we forget to live our lives. … And wild turkeys don’t do that. They are convinced that everything they need, that all their needs will be met only in the present moment and in this space and the world is not better a half mile through the woods, it’s not better an hour from now, and its not better tomorrow. That this is as good as it gets. So they constantly reminded me to do better and to not live in this abstraction of the future which by definition will never exist. And so we sort of betray our lives in the moment so the wild turkeys reminded me to be present, to be here.”
I am vowing not to "betray the moment."
If you can find this on line, please do yourself a favor and watch it. You won't regret it.
Happy thanksgiving.
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