real life angry birds.

Today was a very pivotal day in my journey through adulthood--today I finally felt my "mamma bear"protective instincts rise to the surface in a way that I never expected them to. Allow me to explain.

This afternoon, I was crossing the parking lot towards my car when I noticed a car stopping to avoid hitting a group of birds in the middle of the road. My first thoughts were"seriously? just drive a little closer and the birds will move out of the way. Gosh, there are really some stupid Jainists out there." As I watched closely, I noticed that all of the birds had flown out of the way of the car except for one little sparrow. After waiting a few moments for the bird to move, the car slowly drove around the bird and continued on its way. I continued walking towards my car but stopped when I heard some squawking behind me. There were two crows chasing that little bird around the parking lot. I thought "cute! birds of a feather PLAY together!" I was dreadfully mistaken. Upon further observation I became aware the the crows were not in fact having fun with this little sparrow; they were trying to kill it, pecking incessantly at it while chasing it. All of a sudden I realized why this poor little bird hadn't been able to move out of the way for the car. It was injured! I watched as the crows chased the poor bird into a bush. I continued to walk toward my car while keeping an eye on the crows who were proceeding to follow the sparrow into the bush. I got into my car and drove to Blockbuster which was only a couple stores down from where I was but I couldn't stop thinking about that poor little bird. As I got out of my car, I heard screeching and knew exactly where it was coming from. At that moment, I am not entirely sure what came over me but the next thing I knew, I was running towards the birds rattling my keys and screaming like a madwoman "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU BIRDS?! WHY ARE YOU BEING SO RUDE???!!"I was actually trying to reason with birds. Anyways, it was one of the few moments where I acted purely out of impulse without any regard to what other people thought of me. The crows flew away but the damage had already been done. I noticed that not all of the other birds flew away. There was a smaller bird who I think was this little guys mommy who had been trying her best to scare the crows away but they were COMPLETELY ignoring her pleas. That, I think was what was so hard to watch. I imagined seeing my child being beat up by some large, older men and not being able to make them stop even for a moment.

I also noticed, that the crows hadn't really left, but that they had perched on top of the building and were watching me, almost as if they were waiting for me to leave so they could finish the job. I have never felt so many murderous thoughts towards an animal before in my life. I literally found myself wishing that I had a gun so I could pop those crows one by one.

It was clear that the sparrow had been seriously injured--he was literally staggering around like a drunkard, trying to flap his wings/stay upright/pick himself up after falling down. I could literally feel my heart breaking. I wanted so badly to pick him up and take him to safety but lets be honest, birds are gross and I didn't have any gloves. I stood in the parking lot for probably 2 minutes just staring at the bird trying to figure out how to help it. I even asked a bystander what I should do. You want to know what he suggested? Taking my car and driving over it to put it out of its misery! I could not believe it. When he saw my appalled look he shrugged and said as he walked off "it's better than letting those mean crows kill him." I turned and started to walk away and tears started to fill my eyes as I considered my options. I could let the bird die via CROWelty OR I could put the bird out of it's misery. I kept trying to tell myself "this is nature. this is how it is in the animal kingdom." I walked into Blockbuster and picked up The Young Victoria and headed to the front to pay for it. I still couldn't get the bird out of my mind and I realized that I couldn't let the bird suffer that way, nor could I kill him myself to put him out of his misery. After I payed for my movie, I asked for some paper towels because I needed to go and rescue a bird. As I ran outside, I was delighted to find that a woman had gone to the bird and had picked him up and was looking around for someone to help her. I ran over there with the paper towel and told her that I too had seen the bird's plight and wanted to help. Unfortunately, I didn't know where the humane society or bird rescue places were located in Corvallis and neither did she (she was from another town). We just stood there in the parking lot and noticed this guy from Ross taking a smoke break. He came over and asked us what was wrong and we explained the situation. I can't tell if he was actually genuinely concerned or if he just wanted to help a couple damsels +a bird in distress. As he was trying to give us directions to the humane society, a car pulled up and asked if everything was alright. We explained that this bird was on the verge of dying and neither of us knew the best place to take him and this guy actually pulled around and parked his car, got out his phone, and called animal protection services (or whatever their exact name is). At that point I figured that there was nothing more that I could do so I got in my car and drove off. But I felt so proud to see strangers in the community come together to rescue a fallen bird.

I don't know what the fate of that little sparrow was but I am glad that I got involved. And here's the kicker: I'm not even really that much of an animal person. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate animals or anything but I have never had a hard time killing a rat before. Or stepping on a spider. Or smashing an ant. But this animal was an underdog. A little guy being beat up by the big guys. I think there is something in our nature that makes us sympathize with the underdogs. Maybe because a lot of the time we can relate to them. I was a total underdog. I was caught up in sin, headed towards hell when God called my name and said "you get to play on my team." He picked me up out of the miry clay and he set my feet on the rock. When the enemy is tormenting me, I have an advocate and intercessor who I can trust to have my back no matter what.

Maybe it's because I watched Marley and Me earlier that day, but I felt love towards that bird and I felt the need to protect it. If I could feel that strongly about a bird, how much more ferociously will I fight to protect my kids? Oh boy, watch out world.