Be Careful Of The Responsibilities You Choose
Be Careful Of The Responsibilities You Choose
Gah that’s a mouth full, I really should have made that something snappy like. “Don’t start something you don’t finish.” Still long but it rolls better don’t you think?
-So why the bird picture Wallace?-
So due to a series of unfortunate events, mostly my being bad at caretaking plants, I have two empty flower beds on my window sill. So I thought “what the hey” and put some birdseed in a little bowl and left it there.
It took, maybe, 2 weeks for birds to realize the seed was there, but afterwards they would show up every day for more.
And I, dutifully refilled the bowl, and set out a little dish of water too, cause “hey, why not?”
The other day I ran out of bird seed and there’s just scattered bits left. Because birds are messy eaters. Today I watched a couple birds fly up, see there was no bird seed. Poke around and fly off.
How sad.
Sad, what, why? They were getting their food elsewhere without me. They’re not MY birds. So I don’t OWE them anything.
Right?
Wrong.
I chose to engage in their lives. And no they don’t owe me anything and I don’t REALLY owe them anything. When I move they’ll get by just fine without me.
But I DID choose to feed them. I did choose to set up a nice little area for them to enjoy as they go about their lives. I chose this responsibility. And, frankly, I’m happy to have done so. A few birds chirping on my porch in the morning is a welcome addition to the day.
-So, what did you do?-
I bought more birdseed of course.
Sometimes we impact others, animals, people, plants, in ways we never intended. And it may come with a burden, or rather an option for a burden. In those moments you can elect to take on this new burden and do what good with it you can, or move on with your life.
I will not tell you which role to take. You may need to take different roles at different points in your life. I will only say to be aware of it when you do.
You may find yourself feeding birds. And you may find that you like it.
Take care my friends and God bless;
~S. Wallace