A Three Bird Comedy

Published: Jan 18, 2016

I have learned an absurd amount of things about my world by simply walking outside and watching what happens around me. I see people, I see events, and I see things.

Living in the city has allowed me the pleasure to see multiple things at once, such as people and places interacting. I could walk by the same place a hundred times and still notice something different than the day before.

Today, as I was walking down 12th street, I looked below eye level to the ground. I noticed three birds walking up the street just as if they were people, waddling on together. If they had hands, they would have been holding them. As I approached a little closer, I witnessed the one bird on the outside slip on black ice and fall on its side, just as if a human slipped and fell. It had the same surprised reaction, a wince in the eyes, and it even checked to make sure it was OK.

As the bird struggled to get up (still on the ice), the other two birds started quacking. Their quack was not like normal, but it wasn't frantic either. Their quack sounded like laughing, and what?! IT WAS LAUGHING.

I was intrigued so I stopped to watch.

The second bird waddled over to the ice and what did he do? He slipped. He slipped and then he struggled to get up as the other two birds were laughing.

As the second bird got up, he walked over to the pack and they all quacked together as the third bird walked over to the ice, slipped, and struggled to get up. The two other birds quacked and laughed as it seemed they had found something extremely funny.

This repeated for more times than I can count, as each bird took its turn on the ice.

Once I decided to keep walking, I realized I had just witnessed one of the weirdest things in my life. These birds were going on with daily activities just like the rest of us, but even as a bird, they recognized the opportunity for something to be funny. Whether their emotion was originally because they were scared for their fellow bird or just a reaction, it was evident that the emotion turned relaxed as the tone of their quack changed in pitch. The birds' abilities to repeat the actions of their family for fun made it clear to me that laughter penetrated more than just humans; it is able to reach any being who wants to accept it.

Go outside, even if it just to take a look around. You never know, you may find yourself watching something you never expected.

Today, I had the pleasure of witnessing the first viewing of the new comedy titled, "Fall, Laugh, and Get Back Up", featuring Three Birds Inc. on Ice (Philadelphia, PA). It made my day.

-Happiness in Handfulls