A gray and white junco slammed into our sliding glass door. Pop, was the sound that brought four cats, a German shepherd and a human rushing to look out the window. Robins chirped loudly through the 30 seconds we stared silently out at it, laying in the mud beyond our deck steps. No movement. It died instantly. A fluff of dark gray feathers stuck to the glass at about chin level, marking the spot where it met the end.
Okay, so this is the second dead bird in two weeks and both happened on the same day of the week. My former pagan self would have sought all kinds of meaning in this. One bird a seagull, water, ocean, a scavenger. The other a junco, ground feeding, white belly, ummm…I don't know much about juncos.
Nope, I got nothing.
No foreboding dread or intuitive realization I shouldn't do something, just two endings one instant, the other long.
And yet...
The suffering seagull gave me the gift of an opportunity - the opportunity to take a risk.
The junco? Sorry guy, I still got nothing.
Poor bird. At least it had a mercifully quick death.
ReplyDeleteI used to look for "signs" in everything...then gave up several years ago, because frankly, life is just life and sh*t happens, no hidden meaning, IMO. :-P
But here's a question: Why does the human species feel compelled to look for meaning in everything? Oh, sure, I know our egos can't comprehend a meaningless universe, so we create belief systems and religions, etc., but why? Why can't we just Be?
That's rhetorical, of course!
We put up bird silhouettes on all our sunroom's large glass windows after two bird deaths there last year. Sad. Hoping no one hits them this year.
ReplyDeleteJuncos are one of my favorite birds. You could try to discourage birds from your window by using window clings to break up the surface reflection--they don't have to be 'bird shapes'...
ReplyDeletehttp://birding.about.com/od/birdconservation/a/preventwindowcollisions.htm
Wow that must have been a full throttle hit. We've had birds knock themselves into our windows but they haven't died. I bet the cats were very interested.
ReplyDeletexoxox
If you are looking for meaning it could be that life is fragile so appreciate it, or that it could turn on a dime.
ReplyDeleteOr that you need to buy window clings