Yesterday, a rather large parrot named Alex came in to get his wings and nails trimmed. He was a very friendly bird full of affection for even strangers. We have an indenticle bird for sale in the store and she’s the exact opposite. She likes to hurt people for fun, it’s her hobby I guess. So being able to handle this bird with ease was very rewarding for me. Many customers got a chance to hold him on thier shoulder and he gave them kisses and talked endlessly into their ear, and one lady said she was so thrilled to have an experience like that, and that she never imagined anyhting like that would happen to her. It was something so simple but it made feel more optimistic about the world. Of course, the whole image shattered when I asked the bird if he was a good boy, and he innocently replied, “F**k You!” without having a clue what he was saying! I felt that perhaps some of the ugliness and vulgarities in our world are brought about the same way – by people who don’t really think about or know what they’re doing. Needless to say it was an interesting day with a lot of thought.
A penpal of mine recently wrote to me about an incident at her store that I thought some of you might enjoy.