As I sat on the porch of our condominium on vacation in San Antonio I looked down on the River Walk. In front of us on a tree on the river bank was a beautiful shiny dark blue bird and a brown bird. I admired the feathers of the shiny blue bird, but didn’t think much of the plain brown bird.
It got me thinking that I would find a red bird more beautiful than the blue bird, and a deep black bird more beautiful than the brown bird. Yet when I closed my eyes, all the birds sounded beautiful. Their color, size, or shape didn’t really matter anymore with my eyes closed.
Then I was reminded none of the birds flying around me had any choice in the feather color they were born with. They were born brown or blue or red. Furthermore, they had lived all their life the color they were born.
Whether they had a favored color or made more favored sounds, they were who they were. They had no choice but to live with their physical attributes.
A brown bird could live a very unhappy life because it was not born green. A white bird could live a very unhappy life because it was not born black.
Now I don’t want you to read too much into this...all my talking about birds. I can feel sorry for a pink bird because it wasn’t born red or a green bird because it wasn’t born yellow. Some birds are appreciated more than others, not because of anything they did or didn’t do, just because of the way they look or the sounds they make.
Some birds are born with favored status. They don’t need to apologize for being born with a favored color or characteristics. God just made them that way. They also shouldn’t look down at other birds whose color or attributes are less favored. God just made them that way.
Our world is full of birds: doves, peacocks, ravens, eagles, turkeys, ducks, parrots, pelicans, vultures, ostriches, albatrosses, pigeons, swans, chickens. Each one comes from an egg, but each one is different.
Ravens should not discriminate against ducks. Parrots should not think they’re better than doves. Ostriches shouldn’t feel they’re victims. Recognize that turkeys are in a struggle to overcome their abuse over history. Their journey to today is unfair and needs to be addressed. Regardless, all these birds live in the same world side by side.
Recognize that we should not stereotype any type of bird just because it’s a duck or an albatross. There is an entire spectrum of birds in each category. Some are ambitious and some are whiners. You can’t say every eagle is good or every turkey is bad.
Birds of a feather flock together. You are not apt to see a peacock and a duck being best friends. Despite each bird being different and having it’s own mind, like minded birds are apt to hang together. There is nothing wrong with this unless one set of birds discriminates against another set.
I think humans can learn a lot from birds. Not a single one of you reading this chose the color of your skin. You didn’t choose how tall you would be or if your body has a small or large frame. You didn’t choose how much money your parents had. You didn’t chose your birth order. There are inherent characteristics about you that you will carry until you die that you had no control over.
So what do you do with what you inherited? First of all, accept it and don’t feel guilty for being blue or green or whatever color you are.
Recognize there are others in this world who were born turquoise who don’t have the same advantage you have. They may be living a life having to overcome being born turquoise. It may shape everything they do.
Don’t look down on the turquise. Seek to understand their journey. Help overcome any injustice they experience. Help them understand they need to take the hand dealt them and do the best they can with it.
Help them avoid feeling they’re victims because they were born turquoise. A victim thinks only of himself and believes the world revolves around him.
Look past the color of other’s skin. Look past the social economic background of the person you are dealing with. Don’t treat purple people different from those who are beige. Bottom line, we are all the same on the inside. We are all human and all have the same basic needs.
If you were born privileged, help those who weren’t. If you were born not privileged, don’t live the life of a victim. Either way, life is not fair. Some just happen to be born as ducks and some as parrots. Our world needs both.
If your background leaves you less fortunate than others because of what you inherited, I am sorry. It is not my fault. Nor is it your fault. The question is, “Are you doing the best you can with the gift set put inside you?” Fly as high as you can with what you have been given. And help others fly high also. Be the wind beneath others wings.
My challenge to you today is to be color blind. Celebrate the way God made you. Celebrate how God made others also. Another being different from you is not a reason to look down on him or her. You don’t know the journey another has walked.
Help those who didn’t get as much of a running start as you did. Don’t treat them as victims, but as living breathing individuals who may need your help to fly high.
If, because of attributes you had no control over, you started at the back of the pack, don’t use this as an excuse to attack those born at the front. Comparison can give you a victim mentality. It is dangerous for any of us to compare regardless of where we are on the spectrum. Look inward and do the best you can with who you are. Let that be your measuring stick.
Life isn’t fair. Regardless of the attributes you inherited, accept where you are today. Help change the world from the spot you are at today. Fly as high as you can with the gift set you have inside you.
Discrimination should be just for the birds.
Just a thought...
Rick Kraft is a motivational speaker, a syndicated columnist, a published author, and an attorney. To submit comments, contributions, or ideas, e-mail to rkraft@kraftlawfirm.org or write to P.O. Box 850, Roswell, New Mexico, 88202 - 0850.
