Brighten Your Day

A few days after shifting to a new place I became an unwilling host to a pigeon who was bent on making a nest on the window, no amount of shooing or cursing would scare the winged bugger off, it even had the gall to attack and make me run for cover when I got too close. The little fellow in a bid to make a nest would fly off and make many trips to get some twigs, paper pieces. The twigs created a mess in my already untidy window, their droppings gave rise to an unbearable stench; which even my nose with its ability to withstand bad smells couldn't ignore any longer.

Deciding it was time to show who was boss, I broke the nest and dumped his little world in my dust bin. Smug and content with my accomplishment, I went to work, returning from work the next day I saw the nest again in its place.

Since then it became a daily routine, me scattering the nest every morning, and him rebuilding it again on the same spot. Last week after returning from work I walked to the window with a broom expecting to complete my usual chore of breaking the nest, instead I was pleasantly surprised finding the spot clean as I had left it. The next day while gazing out of the window watching the world go by I saw the pigeon flying in, but something was different this time, he did not seem to be his usual sprightly self, closer inspection revealed one of his leg severed, the wing partially cut, and injury marks all over. Perhaps he had been attacked by a hawk or cut itself entangled in a kite string. He would fly a short distance with much effort, then stop, slowly limp to its nest and place the twig.

The next day I found the pigeon dead, with a small twig held in its beak, in the same spot where it had been trying to build a nest for so long. With all its injuries even the pigeon would have known that it wouldn't live long, but did it give up? No, it persisted, and did what it had to do. Even when it had little hope it went on doing its work without worrying about the consequences. Every day, at work or home we come across circumstances that we think will break us, many times we give up before we even start, and other times we give up just before we are about to make that huge break-through that we have been putting so much effort in to achieve.

The pigeon despite facing a crushing adversity and physical pain never gave up, why should you.