Thursday, December 20, 2007

A sparrow in the mirror

Apologies to all my blogger friends who kept checking and found nothing new for a long time. I wonder how you either have the idea or the time and not both together. Anyways, this is a long overdue one. Although I am not feeling as philosophical as I did when this thought occurred to me I will put it here.


There used to be this sparrow that visited my granddad's house. There was a mirror above the front door and this sparrow used to perch itself in front of the mirror and peck. Peck at its image... at its reflection. Peck and peck and peck. We children (my cousins and I) used to watch it in awe. And with some sort of expectation. We used to have theories about how the sparrow will go on pecking till it broke its beak. (I don't remember seeing a sparrow break its beak. Probably it got tired and flew away.)


I sometimes wonder if we are like that sparrow. We look at ourselves, we try to understand us and to reach out to the person in the mirror. So close, yet so far. What separates us is but a thin layer of glass, but oh, how we think. Day after day, we seek, we search and we try to understand.


I imagine that the sparrow was happier when it flew away. Just flitting about, collecting food and twigs, building a nest, loving its mate and taking care of its baby. It must have been happier when it was just being what it was.


It is not difficult for us to know, to understand and even to behold, but so very difficult just to be…

3 comments:

Vadapoche said...

Nice post. Worth waiting for. Keep them coming.

SandyCarlson said...

I agree with you, Bungi. Sometimes turning the gaze outward is the most effective way to turn it inward.

Glad you're back.

Thanks for your thoughtful comment on my post. I too like the local flavor of Christmas. So much more interesting than imported bits of Northern Europe and the US everywhere!

SandyCarlson said...

Just stopping by to wish you a Merry Christmas and thank you for visiting my blog today--and all the other times you have in a past year. Your writing has enriched my life, and I'm very grateful. God bless.