The Beauty of the Pigeon

Pigeons are NOT beautiful?!

Really…

When I lived in Palo Alto, I was taking a leisurely stroll down the main street, and came across a pigeon who had fallen and was bleeding on the concrete sidewalk.  Everyone just walked around this poor suffering bird.

But not me.  I saw it’s cry for help, it’s beauty as a precious living being.  So, I went into the nearest store and asked if I could use their phone (this was before the cell phone days) to call for help.

Story goes that I was asked to collect the “bird” (as I had called it) and bring it to them so they can try to help it.  And I did.  Found a cardboard box, moved it on to it, and drove us to the animal emergency center.

When I got there, they looked shocked at first.

“This is a pigeon.”

As if a pigeon does not deserve the same kind of care as, say, a robin?  OR any of God’s Divine creatures?!

I’m remembering this story due to an event that happened today.  A friend and I were having a lovely Mexican lunch, overlooking the ocean on a beautiful sunny day.  Just perfect.

There were lovely sparrows flying all about us in a very playful manner, and their beauty fit in perfect with the beauty of the day.  When I mentioned to my friend that there was one sparrow hanging out above his shoulder, he replied,

“Yea, it’s just a sparrow.  And a hungry one, waiting to eat whatever scraps we leave here…”

He could not see the beauty of the sparrow, even after I pointed out how playful they were, etc. 

This is you and me.  We choose to see what we want to see, through our own lenses, and most of the time, because of our own self-implied limitations, we miss out on the fact that we live in a most:

BEAUTIFUL MAGNIFICENT WORLD!