One sight, that I watch with interest is what some birds do to get their turn to the feeding bowl. They wait in the adjoining tree trunks till the birds already feeding, leave the bowl. I do not remember seeing birds chase others away to get an access to the food bowl. This to me is the a fraternal behaviour towards fellow birds, even when a bird is hungry and longing for food.
This orderly behaviour is inherent to avians. It is their habit.
I watched a man climb over our wall yesterday, to gather the nutmeg fruit from the trees. He lives by pilfering. Someone mentioned to me that he likes to take away whatever he can find, rather than look for a job for his income. He has slipped into alcohol dependence. His story is sorrowful. A shop keeper told me that this man brings fruits stolen from different places to sell in his shop. His moral threshold has fallen!
When I heard a presentation in the Indian parliament yesterday that the unemployment among the youth in India is 83 percent, it shocked me. Mr Rahul Gandhi, who stopped at a wayside cobbler's shop yesterday, heard from the cobbler that his income was not able to sustain his family.
Ever since we started feeding the birds, those who come to feed has increased to fifty or more each day. We replenish the food four times in a day in the recent weeks, when the rain fall was heavy.
I feel disturbed by the social distress! To see a healthy man live by stealing was disturbing. He has dehumanised his life, by not working with his hands to bring dignity to his life by exercising his ability!
This too is a mission worth pursuing!
Dr William Cutting, past 80, is engaged in making senior citizens feel that they are able to give! He through his blogs and books calls upon them to keep well in order to be giving! As elders, it is an opportunity to give to bring dignity to those who 'throw away' their lives in pursuit of pleasure and happiness and live depleted of inner wellness!
The birds in the first picture moved away after a while to allow the waiting birds to come to feed.
We can create space for others to feel welcomed and refreshed! Sometimes we feel restrained by the cost of giving or giving up! That is what senior citizens have to overcome! There is enough to give!
For Anna and me, our desire in the recent years, has been to learn to live a simple life, and occupy our time to engage in activities which make us inwardly alive, physically fit and socially conscious!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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