Punting Pigeons

There is a gang of pigeons that gathers in the courtyard of the school where I teach. Some mornings, when I'm walking from my car to the dance room, a few of them cross my path. And do you know what I think?

I wish I could just kick that pigeon.

I wonder how far it would go.

Isn't that one of the most awful and inhumane things you've ever read? What did pigeons ever do to me? Well...they do poop on my car, make their homes where they don't belong, carry disease, walk around all proud and pompous, and Mike Tyson loves them. But despite any obvious offenses, it simply wouldn't be right to go around punting pigeons.

Sometimes thoughts like this cross my mind, and I think... Am I really the type of person that would go around kicking birds just for, well... kicks? Luckily, an experience earlier in the week helped me answer this question.

I was out in the courtyard with my students, cleaning up after lunch, and the pigeons were plentiful. They were walking around, enjoying the spoils from that day's spills, especially a spot occupied by a squashed muffin. I stepped very close to the muffin--only about a 6 inches away. The pigeons, startled at first, moved away quickly. But the fear didn't last long because they really wanted that muffin. One pigeon in particular. He meandered back to the treat, just inches from where I was standing So there I was--one foot away from a muffin-occupied pigeon, and I thought: Now is my chance. I could kick that pigeon.

I didn't, and I feel good about it. I just thought about how someone in the world loves pigeons, (besides Mike Tyson) and I need to respect that. I'm still not proud about my violent mental wanderings, but as the saying goes, "You are what you repeatedly do," (Aristotle...out of context, but still applicable) not necessarily what you think. (Otherwise, by now, I'd be a Jazz singer on the weekends.) Life is all about action.

Do I still think about wanting to punt a pigeon every once in a while? Yep. But I won't. Because I'm better than that--and so are they.

I was serious about that Mike
Tyson thing. It's an issue.