How many robins can you fit on the head of a pin?
Perhaps it depends on the robins in question. If these Robins are the Dark Knight’s beleaguered sidekicks — the original Boy Wonder Dick Grayson, headstrong antihero Jason Todd, the analytical Tim Drake, trained-assassin son Damian Wayne and more — then the answer is probably: None.
Acrobatic as they are, these Robins are hefty fellows. (Except devilish Damian, but still.)
The original question, of course, refers not to robins but to more heavenly feathered beings: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
We are reminded not to waste time debating things that don’t matter, looking for answers that will not come.
As physicist Albert-László Barabási once wrote, “Time is our most valuable non-renewable resource.” And we have so little of it left.
What could be more immediate than our present whereabouts, the restored native forest of the Zealandia Ecosanctuary? We spot a toutouwai, the North Island robin.
As it flies and settles on a branch, its tiny elegant head turning to look at us, we know the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin doesn’t matter, only that they are free to dance.