Lesson 5 - The Birds and Me.

I grew up in a farm house surrounded by flowers, plants and tropical fruit trees. This environment attracted several creatures especially birds of all kinds. These creatures, including quite a lot of my dad’s farm animals became a part of our kitchen’s budget.

Every morning, my dad unfailingly feeds the animals in their cages. He then fills the pot with fresh water, spread rice, grains, crumbs and overripe fruit for the birds. When I was younger, there were more than 30 birds coming to eat in our backyard, everyday. I love watching that scene and that’s one of the things I missed back home.

Last summer, we had a chance to go home; most of our time was spent in our farm house. And every morning when I got up, I saw my dad doing the same routine of sharing our food with these creatures especially the birds. After couple of days, I realized that there were more birds including ducks and chicken coming to eat every day. While having daily coffee with my dad, I had a chance to watch my favorite view once more and this time, with my much mature mind, I’m not only being entertained but I’m learning from these birds.

I noticed that the birds tolerated each other and never fought. While the ducks, ducklings, chickens and chicks picked the bigger grains and crumbs, the birds concentrated on the tiny little grains. There was not a time that the bigger bird pecked at, maltreated or stepped on the smaller ones. They just happily hopped about and ate what they could get as they quack and chirp on. It was a peaceful beautiful scene worth watching.

When we visited my in laws, I had the privilege to watch the same scene of birds happily living together in a huge bird cage built for them. There were more than 30 different birds in different sizes and colors in that cage contentedly sharing their food and their place with each other. Their chirping sound was relaxing!

Then I thought, if birds that don’t hear and read about love can mingle peacefully with understanding, why can’t we humans do the same? I don’t think they have families like we do – sons, daughters, friends, in-laws and tribes – yet they don’t have problem being together. Some of us read the bible, Koran, scriptures; Priests, Prophets, Pastors preach to us about love; we experience how to love, yet we allow worldly tension and sin to overcome us. We quarrel, fight, argue, bicker, and detest each other, even to the extreme of killing each other.

I discovered that, even birds of all sorts can mingle, share and relate peacefully. That’s how our Creator wants us to live – in unity and love.

I’m probably just feeling nostalgic, just missing home and the birds and the lessons they taught me…..