Tonight I felt(interesting word for me) a traumatic experience. Coming out of a bar a pigeon laying on the ground. I see the pigeon taking flight and heading straight towards a wall. The pigeon hits the wall and falls to the floor. Everyone on awe. I go to the pigeon pick it up. In my head I am thinking the pigeon will be alright. In my head hesitating on if I should take it home and nurse it back to health. Everyone around me is freaking out. Some taking picture of me holding a sick bird. Another person takes the pigeon from me. The pigeon obviously sick and hurt, turns over and what appears to be a drunk girl drops the bird. The bird turns over and dies. This is the first time I have ever seen anything die. I don't feel anything. What was disturbing was the conversation that was around. A moron is telling the drunk girl to throw the bird and it will fly. Clearly being a dick about the situation and knowing that the pigeon will only fall again. Another person speaking of how the right thing is to "stomp" the pigeons head and let it go of its misery.
I am shocked by the lack of compassion for the bird from fellow humans. I looked into the birds eyes. Looking dead and dazed. Innocent of what is around it. Gasping for life. The crowd showing no compassion. Someone suggests putting it in the bushes and its the best place where it would heal. Even me, I was afraid to bring it back to my place although I knew it was the right thing to do (I don't think I wouldn't have brought it back, knowing that I possibly let something die).
During my trip on my birthday I learned what compassion meant. Although in my memory, it still haunts me. How we treat the poor and homeless as if they are something less than us. Not human. Showing no compassion. It hurts me to pass up a homeless person every day. The feeling of rejection they might feel as if they aren't human or deserving of life. This is the most powerful feeling that I have, and possibly the only.
I think to myself how could the crowd show no compassion towards an animal that is in pain and dying. The greatest thing you can do to anyone before they die isn't to put them out of their misery, but rather show them compassion and showing them that they matter. I hope when I am dying, people show that I am important in this world and not a infested object. Compassion is the what makes us humans. I wish for a world filled with compassion and love.
