I’m never going to understand how people can think its okay to put a creature that is born with the precious gift of flight into a tiny cage for their own occasional amusement. It begs the question, why do people feel compelled to dominate, entrap and control? The even better question is: Why do we allow it?

On my fifteenth birthday I went out to a local supermarket chain to apply for a job. A week later I was being trained to work on the front end check out counter and by the following week I proudly sported my lime green uniform complete with a badge that highlighted the words ‘In training.’ When I received my first pay cheque I considered what I should spend it on. Yes, my intention was to spend the first cheque on spoils and there after ensure all other payments were placed into my savings account.

After much deliberation on the possible choices I found myself in the local pet store. I purchased every finch they had together with a handful of the turtle doves. I took the birds, the bags of seed to feed them and headed home. Instead of going inside the house via the front door I went through the gates into the back yard. I spread the seed on the grass area where the dogs didn’t have access before slowly opening the boxes to let the birds gain their first taste of freedom. I watched in silent awe.

‘If you knew you were set to be reincarnated as a bird and the bird you caged became your human, would you treat them differently?’

I know there are people who are going to read this and feel that I had and have continually been very irresponsible by purchasing and releasing cage born birds back into the wild. In some cases I would agree if I had selected birds which aren’t native to the area I lived or even the country. I’ve only ever freed the one’s I had seen already living successfully in the area. The reality is that my experience has shown me that not only do the birds flourish, they come back to visit. Instinct is a wonderful thing. People underestimate what a driving force it is. Regardless, I come from a mindset where people chose to capture them, cage them and raise them in unnatural circumstances so I am choosing to give them a chance to taste the freedom of flight. Sure, some may die but they all get the chance to be free and best of all some actually get to truly live.

“The soul is like a caged bird, it waits for the right person to open the door and set it free.” 
― Belinda Taylor on “Soul”

Its disheartening to know that we still live in an age where people argue around the entitlements of who can get married to whom. Child labour, sex slavery, countless homeless, famine and genocide continues to exist in this ‘progressive‘ day and age. There is a real struggle that forms a continuum across the centuries, which demonstrate that not much has changed. A war may have ceased in once place but others find fuel to ignite. Are we able to migrate from place to place freely across the globe? No. Can we provide aid directly to those who need it without political interference? No. We are subjected to the terms and conditions of the governing laws placed to ‘protect’ the interests of the ‘people.’

‘Can you now see the cages too?’

There has to be a better way for us to come together with the intent to help one another. It boggles my mind the amount of money that is allowed to be wasted on political campaigns to gain favors in polls. Seriously? Why can’t the approach be simple. Feed, house and clothe your ‘people.’ Here is a radical thought, how about all the political houses unite to form a leadership brains trust that focuses on actually finding sustainable solutions to the immediate problems. There has to be simplified approaches already thought of and available which could be leveraged to enable the citizens to better help themselves.

I’II never stop freeing birds, unto my last breathe I will be committed to being a participant in the need to unlock the cage doors. We all deserve to live in a better world than this. Let’s free ourselves from the binds. It all starts and ends with you. We too are entitled to fly.

Embrace the right to freedom, become an enabler.

Blessings – Truth Devour