With the radical change of weather in the past few weeks we have had the opportunity to sit on our back deck and watch the birds which are being nourished each day by our bird feeder. The scurrying of activity is fascinating. Red, brown, blue and black, they push each other over in order to get their chance to have a peck. The enemy seems to be the squirrel. They jump and scamper desperately trying to get some food. We have learned a trick which was suggested to us. We now line the pole that the feeder is attached to with Vaseline making it almost impossible for the squirrels to get to the top. Generally they just go sliding down. We can almost hear the birds saying bravo to us. They must think that we are in cahoots with them (which we are).
We have frequently discussed with each other whether or not we believe that the birds think. Do they talk to each other? Do they have their own newspapers? Do they have stores of their own? Do they all sleep in the trees and is it true that they do all spend their winters in Florida? Are they happy—do they argue? It appears that often we see them fighting with each other. Is that over a family feud, a love spat, a broken engagement, mismanagement of money?
As preposterous as all of this seems we really do not know any of the answers to the above questions. They do seem so free and liberated and we assume that they have no worries. That certainly is an enviable position to be in. Perhaps we should be more like the birds. They don’t have concern about their wardrobes. They wear the same thing each day. None of them seem like gourmands. Seed and worms and other unmentionables seem to be enough to salivate their palates. Can’t imagine that they have student loans, car payments, mortgages or any other financial stresses. It is getting more and more attractive to live a bird’s life.
Yet when we think more carefully we realize that their challenges are ones that we do not have. Generally predators are not after us, food is easily available either in the supermarket or what we have in our kitchens, we stay warm with the clothing which we are able to provide for ourselves and we certainly do not have to freeze in the winter.
The more we discussed it and as cute as they are we have come to the conclusion that we are better off having car payments, mortgages and everything else. Neither one of us like feathers — they would definitely be too itchy. We’ll stick with what we have and continue to feed these critters throughout the summer. Everyone is welcome to watch with us anytime!
By Rabbi Mordechai and Nina Glick
