I went to one of my all time favorite stores this weekend. It is so funny to me how a couple minutes of shopping with my wife and daughters in a busy store can wig me out for the entire day, yet I can wander aimlessly through Lowes or Home Depot for hours, swimming upstream against the heavy traffic flow of the isles on a weekend and LOVE IT! I found myself in such a situation recently, and oh, the joy!
As I was wandering and looking at all the power tools, conduit, plywood, snow blowers, and lighting fixtures – non of which I needed, but it was so fun to look – I was lost deep in the thoughts of “what needs to be fixed at home to give me an excuse to buy something” and I heard an interesting noise… Birds chirping. There were many of them, and they were just singing away, much like I would be if I got to hang out at Lowes all day. They were everywhere. You could watch them fly from “Plumbing” to “Hardware” without a care in the world. If they needed a little wood glue for their nest, all they would have to do was swoop down and pick it up! A great life for a bird I would think…
We had a bird in our garage in Texas once. It really freaked my wife out, she views small birds like mice with wings I think. I tried and tried to get the bird out of the garage, and it actually took a long time! If it wasn’t hiding behind a box in the corner it would fly up high and be above the garage door. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to try to get it out of a space with a door about 20 feet wide and 8 feet tall! Then it hit me. What if all these birds in Lowes didn’t really want to be there. They were stuck! The ceilings in Lowes are really high, and the doors relative to the space inside are miniscule! Plus they are all on motion sensors, so triggering the door to open as you fly through may be quite a feat for a little bird! It started to make me sad. They were trapped, and I don’t think anyone in the store cared that it had become a storehouse not only for household items, but for creatures as well.
It occurred to me as I was driving away, that we do the exact same things… we go about our business without a care in the world and fly through a door. It looks good inside, its warm, safe from the storms that can blow our nests out of trees, there are no predators inside Lowes, and it is big enough to keep us happy for a while. But before long, we realize that the decision to fly into this building is pretty restrictive… the food is hard to find, one can only fly so long before hitting a wall. The skylights let us see what is out there but not experience it. All the good things about being in this place are outweighed by the bad things of not being free. Even if all our friends are there, eventually we want more. We were made for more.
So we, as humans, build walls around ourselves, put a roof on our life and become satisfied with the same old thing day after day. It started as a simple routine; it turns into a lifestyle that keeps us from soaring on to new heights. We are safer in our walled in life, for sure, but that is not all we were made for. We make a way for our friends to be in our space with us, but once they are in, then we keep everyone else out. We are just like these birds… And when we finally get up the courage to try something new, we sometimes just hit our heads on the door! Do that enough times and you stop trying. So we throw water on that desire that wells up inside of us to be something outside the box we have created, and we forget our dreams, our desires, and our need to be free. We die a little every time we stop talking about the life we were created for. We settle and compromise for something much less than we are capable of. It can be really scary to try to get out the door; it may even bring back memories of past hurts when we hit the door really hard. But there are other people that want to help you get out! There are friends you have to encourage you on your journey! There are people that will hold the door for you, that desperately want you to make it in this world… Look around and you will see them…
In the mean time, if you see a bird flying at the door – open it for them! It may be you that needs someone to get the door next time!
I have posted a link to this entry on the Wildlife Rehab Alliance Forum at Delphiforums. It is a kind, thoughtful and well-written essay. Thank you for making it available. Best Wishes, Rachel Fischoff, President, Wildlife Rehab Alliance
I was working out of San Diego and was at the airport waiting for my flight. Suddenly I see this poor songbird flying around, it was going to food places in the airport and eating crumbs on the floor.Well I thought I should get someone and get the bird out, so I see this guy that is an airpot worker and asked him to help me get the bird out!He said it was not a problem because they go in and out anytime they want, he told me to watch the automatice doors open and close as people came in and out.So, I sat there and sure enough the birds were just coming and going out of the automatic doors. So I walked out the same doors and just stood there. These birds were living in the trees in the parking lot and just going in to get a meal. Of course this was very early in the morning, I have no idea how these little birds learned how to do this but if there is a will there is a way.I live back in Louisiana which is like living in a third world country, actually were I live is the life a music, really good food and culture. I have been a wildlife rehabilitator for 18 years or so working with hawks and owls and some native mammals.Noel Ann Thistlethwaite oh, what comes around goes around!
K keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement.