Different Places on the Path.

        This morning, when I was walking down to my friend's house to go to the bus stop. There was something that caught my eye. As I was coming down the street, I saw two birds sitting at the base of this one tree. All of the other birds quickly flew away, but these two sat there staring at me. I stopped and took a step towards them, one of them flew up a foot or two before coming back down to land in the same place. The other one didn't move at all. At this point I was curious, so I moved just slightly forward. This time the one that flew let out a chirp, and the other made a feeble hop in the other direction. It was obvious that it was injured and couldn't move. I backed up a few steps, ready to leave. But still the stronger bird continued to  chirp and urge the weak one to move. I looked closer and saw that it's wing was bent in the wrong direction.  I hesitantly moved away from the pair, as they made a very slow progress across the street to get their distance from me. I stayed where I was until they were safe on the other curb.
       I guess I should have left immediately to spare the poor bird of such a long and hard movement, but there was something about the situation that I couldn't just walk away from. It was evident that one bird could fly, and that one could not. Despite the circumstances, it was clear that the healthy bird was not going to leave the less fortunate one. That amazed me. One of these birds could have easily and conveniently left the frail one to live lonely and painfully. There was no commitment, it could have just left and gone on with it's birdie life. But it didn't...
      How many of use would do that? Or how many of use haven't done that? Have we been the ones to leave someone behind who couldn't quite fend for themselves? I know I have, too many times. Whether it was their spiritual, emotional, or mental health haven't we all given up on someone too soon? There are times, I understand, where there isn't anything you can do and it's too much weight on you, so you let go. But what about the times that all that was required of you was  a little bit more patience? A little extra time? Skipping a couple of hang out plans? But in the moment it was merely a pebble in your shoe, so you cut the rope out of pure irritation. Why are we so quick to slash people our of our lives just because we feel that they aren't good enough? That sounds harsh, but really when you get down to it, isn't that why, in these situations, we run ahead in the forest to let them find their way without any help? Because they weren't good enough. 
       Think about it. How many times have we really humbled ourselves to help raise up the weak? Or is it just too much of an inconvenience?

             We complain about a ruined society, but have we ever stopped to try and help that society?