Once there was a cockatiel. He was a beautiful bird with blue-gray feathers interspersed with patches of white. I dubbed him Sugar when I brought him home from the pet store. He had the best of everything; premium seeds and treats, shiny mirrors and dangly toys. True to his name, Sugar was sweet. He had that typical bird-like intelligence glittering in his eyes and regularly entertained me with his antics. He soon learned to let himself out of his cage and would fly to the top of the curtain rods or alight on my shoulder to nuzzle against my cheek. A true blessing in life is to be loved by a bird.
One sunny summer day, a terrible horrible heartbreaking day, a visitor came through the French doors and left them ajar. Sugar was out of his cage and, before we could react, swooshed out that open door. We searched the skies and the trees looking for Sugar to no avail. He was irretrievably lost.
I lamented the fate of my dear friend. Would he find food and fresh water? Would he recognize danger from cats and larger birds of prey? Where would he go when the weather turned colder? He would surely freeze to death. All through the remaining summer and into fall I would scan the skies, searching, hoping, that Sugar would find his way home.
Eventually my thoughts turned in another direction. I imagined how that sweet bird felt as his sparsely used wings stretched out into full flight, the fresh breeze on his face, and the warmth of the sun on his back. And, when he finally alit on a branch to rest, the roughness of the tree branch on his talons and those summery smells of leaves and grass and flowers filling his senses. I thought of the deluxe bird house where he had lived that was, in reality, just a cage. In my house he could only experience the outdoors with glimpses through a window, flight was limited to a few wing flutters to the top of the curtain rods, and the freshest air he breathed came through an air-conditioner vent. As pampered and loved as he was, Sugar was nothing more than my prisoner,
I realized what Sugar instinctively knew, no matter how much you are given in life, unless you can spread your wings and choose your own path, you are not truly free and true freedom is worth dying for.
