I think I need to add a post today...
Just for the posterity of things.
In the comfortable world that is my existence, the positive action I've taken recently is that I'm finally brewing that damn lager... nearly done now but needs bottling & testing, not sure if it's come out quite right. We'll see.
I've also 'almost' started playing EvE online again, it's free, I have time, so why not, right?
But on a more sombre note, today I took an injured pigeon to the vets, to see if it could be helped. I think, perhaps because of its status as 'wild animal' and also the racial profile; i.e. - being a pigeon, the vet chose it would be better to administer the most expedient and efficient course of "care".
That is to say, put it to sleep...
Now, normally I don't think twice about the demise of a flying street rat. I've seen the strewn fox-eaten remains many a time... the occasional flattened carcass on a busy road. Pigeons are plentiful and utterly casually picayune. That is to say, we all know they are there, but they exist in a way which is removed from our common senses, they exist in the peripheral vision of life.
But, yesterday my lovely wife calls me as she's returning from work "get a box, I've found an injured pigeon". Dutifully I arrange a box and torn paper bedding for this odd guest.
She spends some time feeding it, cooing calming sounds and utterances, making sure it has water and comes down from its somewhat manic demeanour. The evening concludes normally and we ourselves set to the usual: food, TV, a little conversation, bed.
I'd been informed that there was an appointment for the morning to take this poor feathery blob to our local vets, they're good people and we trust they'd help us, help the bird. The visit is early, so I'm left in a room with a pigeon in a box and like I would with any pet, I look in on the thing to ensure it is calm and doing okay.
It is fair to say I am now, at least in some minor way, emotionally invested to the animal. The outcome already mentioned and, actually, what I expected. I make my way home unperturbed by the visit and unfolding events.
It was on my way home, I let the wife know the outcome by text. She calls me from work and we briefly console ourselves at having tried to do the right thing, having tried our best.
It is this brief and unassuming conversation which unlocks an epiphany of sorts for me.
Yes, the bird had essentially been 'discarded' by a vet which contemplated that the bird was either too badly injured or perhaps just unworthy of continued investment of care.
Yes, our time spent nursing the bird was essentially "for nothing"
Yes, my wife could have just left it to a more natural demise and it would not have impacted the lives of at least 6 people in some diminutive way.
And, yes... the outcome was not the best.
But, here's what I realised. It wasn't the best outcome, but it was better.
The bird had one night of warm, comfortable rest with food and water. That is better.
The bird was taken to a trained vet whom quite professionally helped the bird to go from this world in a more calm and pain-free way that it would otherwise have endured. That is better.
And perhaps, just that within that short while during which, we as people showed compassion, perhaps that is better too.
While we didn't get the best outcome. We tried, and we got a better outcome. And really I think that's all that matters.
To get a better outcome.
Thank you, anonymous pigeon.
