I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen from a bough,
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
--D.H.Lawrence
I found a dead bird today.
One minute, it was alive. I saw it hopping around the table, picking up tidbits to eat. In the next moment, it was dead.
Dead.
Just like that. It died. There was blood coming out of its throat. No one was even looking at it. Everyone was walking past it as if it wasn't there. No one notices the little things anymore.
It makes me wonder. Are we so wrapped up in our lives that we don't even notice these small little minute details anymore? Are we too busy to even look up into the sky once in a while, to see the way the unseen hand of Nature sweeps his magnificent brush across the pale blue sky, turning it into a painting of bloodreds and tinges of purple? Do we know when the first bird calls in the morning? Do we wake up early to see the sunrise? No. Not anymore.
Why?
Is work deemed too important for these small things?
It didn't use to be like this. Last time. Back and back and back. When people lived in huts by the riverside. Sure, hygiene was bad, urinary systems awful, but they had the time to get up early in the morning, to see the sky. They had the time at night to see the sunset. They bothered to sit down with their families, to talk. And they listened to each other.
We don't do that anymore. We've lost those simple things. The Governments in both Malaysia and Singapore are trying to bring that spirit back. That community spirit. But it's disappearing. We made it go away. Destroyed it. Now we can't rectify it. Because it's too late.
Mourn for the death of that little bird.
Mourn for the loss of that family spirit.
Mourn for the little, amazing things in life that we fail to notice.
That we call annoying.
That are annoying because of our buildings.
Our waste.
Only because of our needs, do insects become an annoyance.
Do crows become scavengers of trash bags.
Do pigeons need to be caught.
Only for our own selfish needs.
And you say mankind is generous?