Creation of "The Bird"
In the last few months, I've been having a lot of crazy experiences, not just with the restart of university, the moving from the safe bubble of college to a larger place that is the village and connecting with many old and new awesome uni mates, but also with family experiences. Family issues have been often been a touchy subject, and sometimes the most cathartic way to deal with that is to write. So I did.
One day I was at Gosford trainstation just before university restarted. I was waiting for my brother Alex to pick me up and take me to watch my awesome little nephew carve up in a cricket match. It was a really troubling time for everyone in my family, so I was very nervous.
As I sat there having a coffee, my eye caught the sight of a bird trying to eat a nut. It had a very deformed leg which really affected its movement, so much so it couldn't stand on it. It struggled with this nut for a good ten minutes, and was clearly in agony, and I could see a fishing line was tightly wrapped around its leg.
When it finally picked up the nut and triumphantly flew off, it suddenly made my mind calm. No matter what trouble this bird faced, it still was grateful for what it had found. I managed to take a photo of the bird, because if I ever find something interesting that could the basis for a story, whether it be a thought, a picture or a quote, I note it down. Often thats how many stories begin. Just a simple little idea.
After what was an exhausting but rewarding day, I thought about this bird on the way home, looking at this picture. Though I couldn't see its leg, seeing this bird going through its life and achieving this small victory made me think of my own life, and how we as humans all seem to have problems, baggage and things that we have to deal with. But at the end of the day, its up to us to decide whether let our baggage keep us down, or teach us and make us appreciate life more. When it comes right down to it; our problems are our damaged leg, and we still keep going.
This idea sat in my head for over two months, and eventually I thought about telling the story of a man who is having a horrible day, then sees a bird and it makes him stop and cast off his baggage and appreciate his life and how lucky he is, even if it is for a moment. The aim was to create something inspiring, that could make the reader stop, think about what they have, and smile at how good it is to be alive.
The story took a while to write, and when I finally completed it took a lot of re-adjusting and tinkering. To be honest, its a story I'm still not totally happy with, but I was always a bit of a perfectionist. However, I left it like this for a reason.
If you feel inspired by a story and it allows you to appreciate what you have, then its done its job. This certainly does for me, and I hope you like it!
Peace out!
Nick :)
