The EQ Edge

Bird in the Rain

example “Is that a bird?” I asked. It was. The small black bird had its head bowed down, remaining still, while the raindrops continued to pelt it. The raindrops flowed down its round head till they formed continuous droplets of water hanging precariously from its greyish beak. Even before a droplet of water could hit the ground where the bird was standing, another droplet would take its place at the tip of the beak.

I approached the small black bird and bent down next to it to see if it was injured or would fly away like most birds when approached by a person. It didn’t move. There were no attempts to move away from me. It looked … I mean, it really seemed miserable. Dejected. Downcast. Disheartened. The small black bird looked as if it was heavy-laden with as much burdens as its tiny-framed shoulders could carry.

We decided to try carrying it to a spot that would shelter it from the rain. Cautiously I approached the small black bird again and when I was close enough, stretched out my hand to gently close my hand partially over its back to lift it up. Then we walked a short distance to the corridor of a row of shops and placed it into a dry cardboard box. Once in the dry cardboard box, it fluttered its wings to shake off the water that was clinging to its back and head, before flying back to where it was before I lifted it – back in the rain, again!

With its head bent over once more, maybe to avoid having its eyes pelted with the continual assault of raindrops, water dripping over its beak and entire body, the tiny black bird was a sight of misery and heartbreak. Not wanting to give up so easily on this little fella, I gently lifted it again and brought it back into the dry cardboard box once more. This time, it stayed there. After a minute or two of watching the small black bird settling into the box, we left the scene.

Each time I recall this incident, I can’t help but acknowledge the parallels between the small black bird and us people! When we are in a bad place, when we are in place where we are heavy-laden, even when our shoulders feel as if they are breaking under the excruciating weight, we remain in that position. Even worse, some of us seemed to elect to return to that awful place despite being granted some reprieve.

Heed the feedback from those around us as we can get caught up so easily in a cloudy situation that we are not able to see where we are, whilst it is so obvious to others. And sometimes, we even try justifying it away by saying “You don’t understand!”

Yes, sometimes we do not have a choice in the matter. It was a spanner thrown at us unexpectedly, unplanned, undesired. But is it really true that we do not have a choice in the matter, or the situation? Granted, that what life throws at us is not necessarily within our control but how we choose to respond to it is! Maybe not our immediate or instant reactions to the situation but when we do become conscious and somewhat lucid, coherent and clear, we should choose to become more intentional with our decisions and behaviours. Not should but, we MUST!