On Taking Risks, Perseverance, Life and Death

This morning, on my way to work, I witnessed a tragic, but also inspiring event that can teach us many lessons.

I was waiting at a red light at a busy intersection when I noticed a little bird flying across it. The bird flew too low and, unfortunately, was soon hit by a car and fell to the ground.

It kept moving, trying to fly again, but many cars kept passing by and some of them kept hitting it. The little bird was thrown a few feet away from where it was. Each time it would land, it would move as if trying to move its wings again but could not. This happened a couple of times. Then another car hit it and the bird stopped moving.

A couple of seconds later a crow came and swooped it off the ground and took it up on a cable where it started to eat it.

It was so sad to see how the little bird endured so many hits before dying, but it was also inspiring to see its perseverance. It was a great lesson on not giving up, even when the odds are against you. The little bird never stopped trying to fly again.

I learned another lesson, from the crow. It was astute and patient enough to wait until the right time to come and take what it wanted.

Even though I felt sad for the little bird, I admired how clever the crow was. He had to calculate when to dive in without getting hit by the cars. And he had to do it quickly enough before his competition, other crows, came.

I could not be angry at the crow. It was doing what was in his nature to do. This reminded me how sometimes we do not want to see that some people will just behave a certain way no matter how much we try to change them or want to look at them in a different way. Yet we are shocked at their behavior, when we should have already expected it.

Both the little bird and the crow did what they naturally do. They went for what they wanted. It is just that, unfortunately, one of them met his demise while doing it.

I wonder how things would have been different had this been a smaller street with less traffic. Maybe someone would have come to rescue the little bird. Maybe it would not have been hit to begin with.

The scene I witnessed is symbolic of life in general. And like life, it brings with it many questions for us to ponder about.

Will we go all in for what we want and fly towards it even though we might fall and fail? Will we be like the crow and wait until a fellow human is down to pick on them and make things worse?

If we already know someone in our life who behaves like the crow, circling around us to see when we are at our most vulnerable, do we give up and let them attack? Or do we seek help to defend ourselves, heal our wounds and be able to fly again?

How about the bystanders? Do we sit still, like them, while we witness how someone is hurt and needs help? Or do we take a risk and try to help them?

So many lessons can be found in nature if we are willing to look at it and reflect.