It is human nature to explore, to go out into our environment and seize it, claiming what we find as our own. This is why I could not be angry with Joshua and Claire for their actions last spring. While climbing a tree out behind their Grandpa's barn, they ran across a nest. Settled in the nest were three colorful bird's eggs. Amazed at what they had discovered, they tore the nest from its cozy home, tucked into a bough of a maple, and proceeded to examine their treasured finds. Joshua, Claire's brother, with all of the unknowing curiosity of any 5-year-old boy, seized the eggs as his own, laid them out in a row and, one by one, cracked the tiny eggs open with a rock. He smeared the gooey insides around with a stick, and then left them in a heap of lost life on the flagstone walk behind the house. Claire, a bit more world-wise in all her 8 years, came running with the nest to tell me what Joshua had done. She was sad and angry with her brother, because she knew that the eggs would have hatched out into baby birds some day. She begged me to punish him. What she didn't realize was that Joshua was not the only one to blame. After all, it was her own hands that had ensured the end of the birds before they ever began. Because you see, it was Claire, my sweet, gentle, Claire, who plucked the nest from its cozy home with her own hands. It was Claire who first held the eggs, and by so cradling them in her small, warm palms, ensuring that the mother bird would never return to them, even had they not met with their unfortunate fate on the sidewalk. She just didn't realize what she had done, nor did Joshua realize what he had done as he cracked open the eggs. He meant no harm. Just like any other 5-year-old boy, he longed to know what was inside. As tears streamed down her face, running trails through the dirt caked on her cheeks from the day of playing, I tried to explain to her that Joshua didn't deserve to be punished any more than she did. Taught about what irreparable harm our actions can bring when we take part of nature as our own, yes, but punished, no. It saddened me, but there was no place for anger or blame. They are just children, after all. They were both just exploring. It was only human.