Dont know much about the place yet, but there was an interesting little "happening" on the street where Im staying this afternoon...
I was out for a walk and I noticed a man standing directly in the path of traffic (though there was not a lot at the time) with a small empty bird cage in his hand. He was staring up at a tree and making a few little noises.
My initial reaction was "Thats a novel way to try to catch wild birds!"... But pretty quickly it dawned on me that his pet bird had escaped :))
I looked into the tree and after a minute or so I saw a budgerigar up there sitting quietly - By the way, budgies are native to the deserts of Australia where flocks of thousands of them can be seen in the evenings at watering holes :)
So, now I see whats going on and I decided to stay and see what happens and take a few pictures.
The bird sits quietly while the man makes noises and drops some fruit and gets tooted at by a few cars.
Then the bird flies down to the pavement but wont let the man near... It flies a short distance when he comes closer.
The man makes more noises and offers fruit and water and seed...
The bird lets him get closer but now only walks away when approached...
After a minute or so more, the bird lets the man offer seeds from the feeding cup and starts to eat from it
Then the man gently picks the bird up and transfers him back to his cage... The little bird seems quite happy with his renewed captivity
Turns out that the man has had the little bird for twelve years!!
But I wondered about the metaphor here...
... Am I the little bird who has escaped the captivity of a "normal life"?... Am I doing anything with my freedom?... Do I really want my freedom at all?... Or would I be just as happy back in my "gilded cage" having tasted some freedom but not really done anything with it?... Is the "gilded cage that bad"?... What is freedom and what is captivity? How many of us deceive ourselves that we are free?... How many of us deceive ourselves that we are held captive?
I certainly have a long term relationship of "co dependence" with my "captor" (call that the western life style....
Answer is "I just dont know"... Time will tell I guess...
How do you feel about the man and the little bird?
Are you free or trapped?
...We must all decide for or selves I guess :)
