My grandparents’ house was surrounded by trees, vines, sheds, veggie gardens, fruit trees, a chook pen, and a yard where my grandfather kept his beloved angora goats. During one of our pilgrimages from interstate back to their place when I was a child, I remember playing in the garden around their old, uninhabited, powder blue cottage next door which smelled of honey and was covered in ivy. Most likely with a belly full of my grandmother’s traditional honey-biscuits I'd probably been out there for a couple of hours. I would have been caught up in my own imaginary world, probably pretending to be my latest favourite cartoon or book character, when I was snapped out of it and back into reality.
As I was playing by the back door of the cottage out the corner of my eye something caught my attention. There was a small baby blackbird sitting on the cement path just beside the ivy and chirping. I couldn’t see a nest or a mother so I ran over and collected it up knowing that if I left it there it would likely be attended to by any number of other wildlife around the place. “Nanna! Nanna!” I took the bird to her and she walked with me back to the cottage to try and find its nest amongst the ivy. Another blackbird scratching all the dirt out of the gardens and onto the recently swept paths was probably the last thing my Nanna wanted, but she ignored that and helped her granddaughter, whose purpose it was to protect this helpless creature. Nanna found the nest and with her help I carefully placed the baby bird back into it where its mother would find it when she got home.
There seems to be so much happening around me. So many things demanding my attention, engaging me, distracting me, inspiring me, confusing me, enraging me, comforting me. So many blackbirds. With many friends and family on social media I hear all sorts of stories with varying degrees of inspiration and heartbreak. But even the heartbreaking ones can be inspiring –inspire me into action. To share, to donate, to do. Something. Anything. Publicly. Privately.
There is much to do and I’m just one person. If only I could collate a heap of different ways that we can help others and put them in one place where the load can be shared, perhaps I won’t feel quite so helpless or like the job is too big.
Wait! I can!
As I was playing by the back door of the cottage out the corner of my eye something caught my attention. There was a small baby blackbird sitting on the cement path just beside the ivy and chirping. I couldn’t see a nest or a mother so I ran over and collected it up knowing that if I left it there it would likely be attended to by any number of other wildlife around the place. “Nanna! Nanna!” I took the bird to her and she walked with me back to the cottage to try and find its nest amongst the ivy. Another blackbird scratching all the dirt out of the gardens and onto the recently swept paths was probably the last thing my Nanna wanted, but she ignored that and helped her granddaughter, whose purpose it was to protect this helpless creature. Nanna found the nest and with her help I carefully placed the baby bird back into it where its mother would find it when she got home.
There seems to be so much happening around me. So many things demanding my attention, engaging me, distracting me, inspiring me, confusing me, enraging me, comforting me. So many blackbirds. With many friends and family on social media I hear all sorts of stories with varying degrees of inspiration and heartbreak. But even the heartbreaking ones can be inspiring –inspire me into action. To share, to donate, to do. Something. Anything. Publicly. Privately.
There is much to do and I’m just one person. If only I could collate a heap of different ways that we can help others and put them in one place where the load can be shared, perhaps I won’t feel quite so helpless or like the job is too big.
Wait! I can!
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