Redbird

Knowing of Sha's love of adventures, her fans often write, to share their adventures with her. Recently, she got a letter from her old friend, Stacy, from Oklahoma. If this letter had come from a distant sim in second life, there would be nothing unusual about it, but as we said, this letter came from the real life Oklahoma, USA. Is the story true or false? We each have to decide that for ourselves, but I think we might all agree that the story is indeed worthy of our consideration.

Here is Stacy's letter

Dear Sha,

   Last spring, while sitting around my fire pit in the back yard, (which I consider part of my sacred ground) I was contemplating life when a cardinal landed on a branch I had in the pit.

 After taking flight several times and landing for a short period of time, he finally looked at me and said,  

 “Stacy, life isn't so complicated. Just be you.  But understand who and what you really are. I'm just a bird, but I also have a mission in the overall scheme of things; however, because I'm not human, I am without karma to keep me in check.

 We, in the animal kingdom, don't hold grudges nor do we hate or dislike, and we don't kill for sport or reward and we don't even badmouth anybody. Because we don't think of these things, we don't have karma to balance. We all have accomplishments that must be obtained every time we go through life's reincarnation cycles, but only you guys, man, have karma and that's the one important cosmic entity that should be kept in mind with each thought.

 Peace is the supreme feeling one should hold dear in thought. If one does not have peace within himself, he cannot ascend the ladder of enlightenment. When one awakens in the morning, he should cocoon himself in peace and tranquility and carry those feelings and thoughts within him throughout the day. Don't beat yourself up trying to figure it all out. Just relax and keep feelings of peace within your mindset all during the day, and then only peace can attach to you. It's really that simple.

 Well, I have to get busy and finish building my nest before the old lady ruffles my feathers! Oh and, hey...don't be burning all my nest wood, please.”

 And just like that, the red bird took flight, leaving me in wonderment of his philosophy. Maybe life is just that simple, I thought. Maybe if we started each day in the mood and mindset of peace, then maybe, just maybe, it might balance things we can't do for ourselves and we're creating our day's expectations by our thoughts, and that's where it really begins; and you know something? It works.

 Several weeks ago, I was preparing a woodpile in my fire pit in the backyard for an  evening bonfire that I hoped would last late into the night. I had the proper amount of wood for a nice steady burn that would last until about midnight. I also had several large logs that would smolder through the night and allow me to finish the rest of the unburned wood the following day or evening without having to light a new fire.

 The evening turned out to be a delightful one. The temperature was in the 70's and the sky was a bit overcast with the smell of rain on the horizon and a refreshingly light breeze. I was just starting to ignite the fire when an old friend of mine appeared quite suddenly, almost out of the blue.

 It was that red bird. Remember that male cardinal who visited with me several months ago in the spring and told me not to burn all the good nest- building wood I had available? I was starting to begin another bonfire at that time also. Yes, it was the same little guy and he addressed me again by name, and again with a warm welcome.

 "Hi Stacy. What have you been up to, my man?" the cardinal asked without hesitation. 

 He seemed to be as happy and delighted to see me as I was to see him. Not knowing exactly what to say or what to talk to him about, I quickly asked if he and his mate had built their nest and raised little ones.

 “Well, hello there, my friend!  How are you?  Have you and your lady built your nest yet?  Are you raising any little ones?”

 "Oh yes. We had three eggs but one got blown out of the nest early. You know how bad some of these storms can be around here. Anyway, we have two robust young ones who are beginning to eat on their own. I'm happy about that because it gives me and my lady more time to socialize. I had extra time today, so I thought I'd stop by and visit with you, if you don't mind.”

 Can you imagine that? Sure I have time to talk to any bird who addresses me by name and speaks my language! I may be crazy, but I'm not totally nuts. I don't think so, anyway. But maybe you'll have to ask the bird about that one.

 “So, have you given any thought to what we previously spoke about, and what I said to you regarding what life is (and is not) supposed to be about?”

 “As a matter of fact, I have looked at and considered, some serious aspects of your concerns.  I agree with you that life should not be looked at as being so serious that it becomes an extreme drama instead of a pleasurable experience.  One can live this lifetime, or a hundred lifetimes, and it matters not to anyone except oneself.”

 I was relaying those thoughts and concerns to him when, all of a sudden, the cardinal inhaled deeply then ruffled his chest feathers while folding back his wings. Then, he hopped up and flew from his perch, only to return immediately.

 "I was just looking to see where my lady is and who she's visiting with. We always try to keep a close eye on each other and the little ones, if possible. You know we red birds and bluebirds are really a tightly-knit group."

 “What I mean to say is that I know that we, of the lower animal kingdom, are the ones below the status of man.  You are the gifted animal with speech and reasoning and the rest of us cannot speak out in words for ourselves, so we have to adhere to and speak through you and your spoken words or your world of symbols.”

 “Anyway, you or someone else like you, who can speak, read and write is going to have to tell the others to stop poisoning the air, earth, water and leave alone what's left of life's spirit. We, who are in the lower animal kingdom, are already dying off in large numbers. Please try to do something to bring a stop, or at least a slowing down, to this process of eradication. It's affecting us all simultaneously."

 I understood what he was saying and I knew it was the keystone to this change if indeed it could happen. But where does one start, I thought? Granted, I knew a change had to be made, but was it done by calls for action from the top or from calls of action from the bottom. Just where does it start?

  "It starts at the bottom where we are and it's still the right thing to do to apply this philosophy of one person at a time, spreading it by understanding within the proximity of another and, if done properly, this approach still works.”

 “I vow to do my best to fulfill your request.”

 Yesterday, while preparing another bonfire, this one in tribute to the people affected by hurricane Harvey, my cardinal friend once again flew in for a visit. 

  

 "Hi, Stacy. It’s good to be able to see and speak with you again. Of course I see you all the time while you're working in the back yard, but the pleasure is mine in having enough of God's grace to speak with a human. I didn't tell you this before, but I tried speaking with a couple of your neighbors before I finally made contact with you.”

 “The guy who lives down the street over there" [Bird motions with a twitch of his head] I knew exactly who he was talking about. "was drinking and he was just starting to light a small fire when I flew up and landed on a perch and introduced myself and called him by name. I think it scared the crap out of him so bad that he quit drinking and I haven’t seen him out there preparing another fire since then. His eyes got so big I thought they were going to fall out of his head when I spoke his name.  I really didn't mean to scare him that bad. The other neighbor was a small woman a couple doors down. She was buzzed a little on some smoke, but she sat there and listened to me for a little while and then shook her head, put the bud down and just said ‘no’. Then she got up and went into the house. You're the only one who ever listened to me and we seem to have a good connection. What do you think?"

 It seemed he was being quite a motor mouth for some reason but I wasn't going to interrupt any bird speaking my language and addressing me by name, and also one I considered a friend. I mean, let's face it. We all have grand illusions of someday having some unthinkable good fortune happening to us at some point in our lives, but hell, this was serious communication with a cardinal, and somehow this outshone even my expectations. However I am content to be awarded with this as my gift.

 “Hey, you know something? I don’t even know your name, if indeed you guys have names”

 "My name is Kroh. In the cardinal world, my name, Kroh, carries a high status of recognition. Obviously even you can see that because I talk and communicate with you, right? Not just any bird, or even any cardinal, can connect with a human and when we do, it's for more divine reasons than to just chit-chat.  But I think you’ve figured that one out already."

 My mind was processing his words. He always did speak to me about matters of importance and I knew this conversation was going to be a meaningful one also, but somehow he seemed to be a little anxious in his presentation of thoughts, and I felt he knew of something important that he wanted to relay to me in a timely manner.

 Before I could utter a word, another smaller cardinal flew up and landed on a lower perch, not more that a foot from Kroh.

  "This is my son, Rak.  I want you to meet him. I've told him about you. As a matter of fact, all the birds know about you and my conversations with you and they are all envious. But that’s an understandable thing in the lower animal kingdom because we are all in it together and for the betterment of all. This is something we wish you humans would go back to doing and believing in because what you're doing now is killing us all.  Stacy, think about it and go about awakening whoever it is that has to be awakened and have them please do something to stop what they are doing, and do it ASAP. What they don't seem to understand is that it's happening to them also, unless there is a shadow being that lives without the convenience of the physical world."

 His conversation caught my attention and neither tornado, hurricane nor earthquake could have driven my attention elsewhere. Kroh had my full attention.

 “We need to hurry off, to see about that bird cry which sounds as if there is some distress.  We shall pick up our conversation when we meet again.”

  

 What did he mean by a “shadow entity” ? It would have to be one of intelligence or, if not, of what use would it be? However the thought of an intellectual non-human entity making decisions on its own without regards to man seemed quite impossible, yet possible at the same time. I knew we'd catch up with this conversation on our next visit, but it was getting dark and I had to light the fire for the night, so I didn't expect them back that day.

 I'll catch everyone up when I see Kroh again. But remember, I saw him twice in just a short time, although it was several months after the first time we met, so it could be soon or not so soon.