Who is Lucky?

On a sunny afternoon, I went for a walk in the woods right by my backyard. After a few minutes on the trail, I spotted something unexpected: a large old broken birdcage not too far off of the trail. It was shaped like a house and parts of its back and front grids were missing and the parts that remained were rusty and covered in moss. And I was quite sure that it had not been before today, even though it looked like it had been sitting there for years.

As if that wasn't unusual enough, I suddenly noticed that a little blue bird was weaving a straw wall to cover the openings on the birdcage and it had done a very good job covering most of the missing front grid.

I figured that the little bird had built its nest in the upper part of the birdcage and now was working hard to make it safer for its babies. I couldn't help but to contemplate the irony -- of all the places that a bird could choose to build a home, that little one had chosen a birdcage!

I felt sorry for the little mom-bird because it would be a very long and exhausting task to cover the back of the birdcage. So, I felt compelled to help. I searched around, looking for something that could be used as a cover and then I spotted a big straw ball on the ground. As I inspected it closely, I realized it was actually a bird's nest, probably fallen from a tree not too long ago. Now, I felt sorry for the bird that had lost its nest and hoped that the chicks were not inside it when it fell. But, at the same time, I felt lucky because I had found exactly what I needed. I flatted the nest up with my hands to turn it into a straw sheet and placed it on the back of the birdcage turning it into a precarious wall that covered the whole opening.

The tireless little bird didn't seem to care about my help at all. I felt a sting of the ingratitude, but despite of that, I walked away feeling very proud of my altruistic good deed. If only that little bird knew how lucky she was that I gave her a hand, now she would get the job done in half the time and be safe and sound!

The following day, I went for another walk in the woods and when I reached the spot where the birdcage was, I noticed that the little bird had done an impressive job. All the openings had been fully covered with straw walls and there was just a small round opening that served as an entrance.

As I came closer to have a better look, the head of a black cat suddenly popped out of the hole! It didn't seem to notice me and just closed its eyes and stayed there looking very satisfied. In shock, I figured it was probably a stray cat that was thinking how lucky it was for not only have found a new home, but also a nice meal right there and then.

After that episode, I started considering how luck is actually just a point of view: someone's luck can often be counted as someone else's tragedy.

(A dream)