Birds And Man
I have three birds, sparrows, pigeons
and crows.
They greet me and I greet them almost
every morning.
I watch them when they visit their
food court, and pick up
Grains and sip water.
One day during the election times,
they asked me to define man.
I said: I cannot.
But hear what Shakespeare said:
“What a piece of work is man! How
noble in reason! How infinite
In faculties! In form and moving, how
express and admirable! In action,
How like an angel! In apprehension,
how like a god!”
No, no, said the birds unanimously.
It is flattery. Tell us something
different.
I agreed and quoted Pascal:
“What a chimera is man! what a
confused chaos! What a subject of contradiction! a professed judge of all
things, and yet a feeble worm of the earth! the great depository and guardian
of truth, and yet a mere huddle of uncertainty! the glory and the scandal of
the universe!”
True! True! Exclaimed the birds.
A mere huddle of uncertainty!
Look at us: We never change. Our appearance, actions, cries, food habits,
likes and dislikes, beliefs and disbeliefs are constant. We don’t disguise ourselves. Our actions and
reactions are predictable. We are
non-deceptive, unselfish, and un-opportunistic. Our feathers and beaks remain unalterable. We
are neither actors nor diplomats. We are
simple birds, as natural as God made us.
There is no artificiality, because there is no lust for power, no hunger
for fame and no desire for becoming turn coats.
I heard my birds like students hear
their great teachers who speak like
ordinary, if not extraordinary,
Buddhas.
-------G.
R. Kanwal
