The Bird Parable
One spring, a bird was born in Wisconsin. It grew up enjoying the warm Wisconsin summer and crisp early autumn. The bird was quite happy with life in Wisconsin.
Along about late October, the birds began talking about flying south for the winter. All of the older ones agreed that this would be a good idea. The young bird didn’t see the point. “Why should I fly thousands of miles?” he asked them. “It’s nice right here.”
The other birds informed him that it would be getting very cold soon, and that he would have trouble staying alive during the frigid Wisconsin winters. They advised him to fly south where the temperature was much warmer.
The bird, who’d never experienced a winter, didn’t believe them and said that he was staying put. “I’ll go later on if it starts getting cold,” the little bird thought.
The other birds flew south, and the little bird stayed where he was. The weather got a little colder as the days went by, but the bird kept putting off flying south, figuring that the weather was still warm enough to stay where he was.
A couple of weeks later, a cold snap hit the upper Midwest. The cold was worse than anything the little bird had experienced before. He realized that the other birds were right all along. So he started to fly south. But the cold got worse, and the bird shivered and shook as he flew. Ice began to form on his wings, hypothermia set in, and he started dropping towards the ground. He ended up in a cow field on a farm, shivering, unable to move, and near death.
As this happened, a cow walked over the bird, careful to not step on him. The cow wasn’t quite as careful about where she relieved her bowels, and she ended up crapping right on the little bird before moving on.
“This is a fine deal,” the bird thought bitterly, “not only am I almost frozen to death and unable to move, I have to suffer the indignity of being crapped on by a cow! How much worse can it get?”
Cow crap, of course, is initially quite warm, and the warmth from the crap enveloped the bird. Its body started regaining its normal temperature, and it soon could move about, as much as its confinements would allow. “This isn’t so bad after all,” thought the little bird. “I’ll stay here a little longer, until I’m fully warmed, and then I’ll work my way out and continue flying south.” The little bird was so happy by this upward swing in development that it began to sing cheerfully.
A fox which was wandering along in the cow field heard the singing coming from the pile of crap, got curious, and ambled over to investigate. As the fox neared the pile of crap, the little bird started working his way out. His head poked out of the crap.
“Would you mind helping me out of this?” the little bird asked the fox.
The fox was only too happy to help the little bird. It grabbed the bird’s head by its mouth and pulled the bird from the crap. But instead of letting the bird go, it promptly ate it. End of the little bird.
The morals of this story are as follows:
1) When many people who are older and wiser than you tell you something, and you believe the opposite, they are probably right and you are probably wrong.
2) If you put something off repeatedly, it may be too late when you finally get around to doing it.
3) Not everybody who craps on you is your enemy.
4) Not everybody who pulls you out of the crap is your friend.
And finally,
5) If you’re happy in your own little pile of crap….keep your mouth shut!
One spring, a bird was born in Wisconsin. It grew up enjoying the warm Wisconsin summer and crisp early autumn. The bird was quite happy with life in Wisconsin.
Along about late October, the birds began talking about flying south for the winter. All of the older ones agreed that this would be a good idea. The young bird didn’t see the point. “Why should I fly thousands of miles?” he asked them. “It’s nice right here.”
The other birds informed him that it would be getting very cold soon, and that he would have trouble staying alive during the frigid Wisconsin winters. They advised him to fly south where the temperature was much warmer.
The bird, who’d never experienced a winter, didn’t believe them and said that he was staying put. “I’ll go later on if it starts getting cold,” the little bird thought.
The other birds flew south, and the little bird stayed where he was. The weather got a little colder as the days went by, but the bird kept putting off flying south, figuring that the weather was still warm enough to stay where he was.
A couple of weeks later, a cold snap hit the upper Midwest. The cold was worse than anything the little bird had experienced before. He realized that the other birds were right all along. So he started to fly south. But the cold got worse, and the bird shivered and shook as he flew. Ice began to form on his wings, hypothermia set in, and he started dropping towards the ground. He ended up in a cow field on a farm, shivering, unable to move, and near death.
As this happened, a cow walked over the bird, careful to not step on him. The cow wasn’t quite as careful about where she relieved her bowels, and she ended up crapping right on the little bird before moving on.
“This is a fine deal,” the bird thought bitterly, “not only am I almost frozen to death and unable to move, I have to suffer the indignity of being crapped on by a cow! How much worse can it get?”
Cow crap, of course, is initially quite warm, and the warmth from the crap enveloped the bird. Its body started regaining its normal temperature, and it soon could move about, as much as its confinements would allow. “This isn’t so bad after all,” thought the little bird. “I’ll stay here a little longer, until I’m fully warmed, and then I’ll work my way out and continue flying south.” The little bird was so happy by this upward swing in development that it began to sing cheerfully.
A fox which was wandering along in the cow field heard the singing coming from the pile of crap, got curious, and ambled over to investigate. As the fox neared the pile of crap, the little bird started working his way out. His head poked out of the crap.
“Would you mind helping me out of this?” the little bird asked the fox.
The fox was only too happy to help the little bird. It grabbed the bird’s head by its mouth and pulled the bird from the crap. But instead of letting the bird go, it promptly ate it. End of the little bird.
The morals of this story are as follows:
1) When many people who are older and wiser than you tell you something, and you believe the opposite, they are probably right and you are probably wrong.
2) If you put something off repeatedly, it may be too late when you finally get around to doing it.
3) Not everybody who craps on you is your enemy.
4) Not everybody who pulls you out of the crap is your friend.
And finally,
5) If you’re happy in your own little pile of crap….keep your mouth shut!
