even birds nowadays recycle

As I was cooling down from an early Saturday jog in Ateneo, I noticed a bunch of twigs intricately woven to what seemingly was a bird's nest. Oddly, I expected to appreciate its sublime natural beauty above my head but instead, it decided to appear right smack on the ground, a meter a way from where I was catching my breath. Surprised and fascinated, I checked and see if I might still chance upon an egg or two. As I came closer to it, it became clear to me that it was an abandoned nest for reasons unfathomable at the moment.

My prying eyes suddenly noticed something odd, something inorganic propping outside the borders of the twigs. And then it occurred to me that indeed, these translucent stuff are nothing but soft plastics! Crude, lifeless and harsh rubbish that the birds recycled. Talk about going green nowadays! I guess the campaign was even adapted by the birds. Even birds now recycle!

I don't know how I should feel about this. My mind seemed to be stewed in a pot of mixed emotions. Fascinated, saddened, annoyed and amazed - all these things were flooding me at that point. My lower-self was sad and annoyed for incorporating the harshness of inorganic matter in our ecosystem, the bane of fast food, modernization and everything-is-disposable lifestyle (yeah, of course, so long as we reduce, re-use and recycle, then it's okay).

Another part of me was humbled because of the resourcefulness, intelligence and adaptability of the birds. Up until now, I am amazed at the evolution of this ecosystem in the city! Inspiring how they, as part of the stewardship of life, never ceased to learn, to grow, to adapt and never give up. I was deeply humbled by this experience. While I immerse myself in the toxicity of issues and emotional politics of daily life, educating myself in different schools of thought and gnaw upon the recognition of an answer to insignificant dilemmas, I have forgotten about learning my lesson from nature, the bosom of Mother Earth.

The experience was a sublime reminder for me to take things slow and follow the path of least resistance. In humility and solitude, I am relearning lessons from Nature.