Pigeon Affairs

For years I've noticed a flock of pigeons that gather on a traffic light post stationed on an off ramp that intersects with the 5 Interstate freeway. There are four lanes of traffic on that street, along with the off ramp and below the bridge, the freeway. The noise and air pollution must be abhorrent, but these birds sit there day and night oblivious to the congestion, noise and smell. Just to their left is a patch of pine trees, which might give them some respite, but they don't seem to notice. With their wings they might go anywhere, maybe a few miles south to the Pacific Ocean, a few miles north to the mountains, but they never move. Whenever I see these birds I'm reminded of human self imposed limitations and how we don't move far from our perches. We get up and do the same thing day in and day out, even though the environment might be noisy, polluted and the route congested.

It's really hard to get up and out of ourselves, and not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, to try flying to the left, the right, north or south. Instead, we watch the sun rise and set on our lives without ever expanding our wings to our full potential.