Broken Wing

“Can you come out here?” My husband’s voice sounded somewhat strained over the phone. From where I sat in the office I could see him and our son sitting in the rock buggy stopped on the driveway. “There is a dove out here and I think it has a broken wing” he concluded. I grabbed a towel and headed out.

By the time I got down the driveway the plucky little bird had wandered through the pasture fence, it seemed to know I was after it before I even got close and it wasn’t keen on letting me catch it. Once inside the pasture I got a clear view of the bird. It was a ring neck dove – one of the common ones we have here on the farm. They enjoy picking in the chicken scratch that gets thrown out every morning. I suspected this bird didn’t judge her exit from the chicken pen quite right and most likely hit the fence.  Except for her left wing being at a slightly wonky angle she looked just fine and certainly was full of energy as her little legs skittered across the ground at an astonishing pace. Despite my best attempts at bird whispering and hiding behind trees to “surprise” grab her, this girl was intent on avoiding me. “Boy,” I thought “that dove is acting like me when Hashem wants me to do something that is outside my comfort zone. I zig and zag all over the place just like her!”

I decided to try to pen her against the fencing at the far side of the pasture. That fence had smaller holes that I didn’t believe she would be able to fit through before I got the towel on her. The plan worked but not before she made a valiant effort to escape – running her head through one hole and each of her wings through separate holes. Then she gave me a lecture in her most serious dove voice as I extracted her from the fencing. I imagined myself, mentally kicking and fussing, when Hashem is obviously doing something that I don’t care for even though I know it’s for the best and I had to smile. “Thanks for the visual lesson, Hashem!”

My husband called our local wildlife emergency facility, which is fortunately less than a mile from our home, and we made plans to drop the dove off with a volunteer there. I helped with the examination – the dove was rated as “quite fat” (chicken food diet playing in there I’m sure) with an apparent non-serious shoulder injury. The technician told me she expected she would be just fine and put her into a bird cage with several other doves there for various recouping needs.

I appreciate the work the people at this wildlife facility do. Everyone that works there is a volunteer and the person who runs it has given her whole home property to the venture. It’s an effort of dedication by many that make it work – funded by donations and operated with good will. There are eagles and owls, quail and pelicans, alpacas, horses, deer, porcupines and many more animals coming and going on a rotating basis as needed with the goal of releasing as many back to nature as possible.

As I left the facility I was struck with the diversity of animals they deal with and the fact that the intake of this little dove was taken just as seriously as the beautiful red tailed hawk I found injured by the road earlier this year. The volunteers cared about the dove and the hawk equally – one was not more important or more worthy than the other.

I wondered, if a dove and a hawk are valued the same – how much more so should we all consider each and every person of equal value. Regardless of wealth, education, social, or other artificial standing we’ve placed on one another in order to judge and categorize – we should value and appreciate one another.

The Creator created us all and whether you are a Jewish or Bnei Noach or a gentile yet to discover and embrace the 7 Noahide Laws, the Creator loves you. We all should follow suit and love one another as well.

Look Around You

Do You See Them?

Perhaps

Do You Hear Them?

Perhaps

They Are Different From You

They Challenge Your Wisdom

They Question Your Purpose

They Disagree With You

Are They Wrong?

Perhaps

Are You Wrong?

Perhaps

Consider They May Be On A Parallel Path

One Designed For Them Alone

A Different Road Used But

A Destination You Share

Look Around You

Do You See Them?

They Are Your Brothers

Do You Hear Them?

They Speak The Truth As They Know It

Can It Be That Your Journey Is Enriched

By Knowing Them?

Perhaps It Is Time

Find Common Ground.

* * *

Jennifer invites you to participate in a regularly held Noahide on-line study group that reviews the garden series books of Rabbi Arush. You can contact her at jenniferjwoodward@gmail.com to be added to the weekly newsletter for dates and times. Visit the blog at noahidenews.blogspot.com