Morning. Rain. An almost deserted park. I was walking mindfully to hear the birds, the drops falling on my umbrella, the soothing sound of the rain. As I was heading towards the exit of the park I saw something tiny moving on the side of the alley.
I stopped and looked closer. It was a baby sparrow that looked like it couldn't take off the ground. It was struggling to sit on it's tiny feet and it seemed it couldn't fly anymore.
I kneeled down and got even closer to the baby bird to see if it was injured. It looked fine but very scared. I caressed it's head and it just stayed there looking at me with its tiny, dark eyes.
As I was looking at it and thinking about what I could do to help the poor little creature a man who was walking from the opposite direction passed by looking at me and at the tiny creature. In a few seconds he came back suggesting to move it somewhere closer to a fence where it would be safe from the rain.
Then another man stopped and he said we should take him to one of the bird houses that are everywhere around the park and there it would be safe from the rain and have food too.
I had my gloves on as it was quite chilly this morning. I gently took the baby bird in my hand. I could feel its tiny heart beating fast and its tiny claws piercing through the fabric of my glove.
We walked together, me holding the bird and the two kind strangers who stopped and came up with ideas to help. I could feel the warmth of the tiny creature in my hand and its heartbeat normalising.
To everyone's surprise after walking like this for about 20-30 meters the little bird flew out of my hand into the nearest tree.
One of the men said: "It was probably cold and by holding it in your hand it regained its strength to fly again..."
I was both happy that the birdie flew again and also worried about it's faith.
Will it make it?
We parted ways, the two men continued their walk one way, I walked on my way.
As I was alone again I felt tears coming to my eyes thinking about the little creature that only needed a few moments of kindness, a warm shelter to dry its feathers and get warm again to be able to fly again.
A few moments made a huge difference for this tiny stranded sparrow.
I was wondering why was I so emotional after this short encounter?
I still don't know, but as I'm writing this I'm thinking that we are not so different from the little sparrow.
Sometimes we fall down, we are wet, cold and tired and all we need is someone's warm embrace and a temporary shelter to help us get back on our feet.
And sometimes we are the ones who could help someone in need. And we don't realise that by just stopping and wanting to help, even if we don't know how in the moment, other people will come and give ideas.
And maybe sometimes what the other person needs it's just our compassionate attention and a big, caring hug.
Such a huge lesson from such a tiny, fragile creature!
I am so grateful I could help the baby sparrow even if I had no idea what to do when I stopped.
Namaste
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