There is no such thing as a free meal they say. But why is this the case? My friend, the Jan Frederik (Cape robin-chat (Cossypha caffra)), sits on top of its little birdhouse with the writing eat for free. It gets its lunch for free whilst I unpack the shopping bag filled with food made in either factories or grown on farms managed like factories.
The little bird mocks me. Not me personally, but the system in which we are ensnared. There is no such thing as a free lunch...
... because we have adopted internally the idea that food is a commodity and not a basic need.
We look at the small birds and give them seeds and crumbs and worms and dried-out bugs. We feel a certain shame and sadness when they go hungry and we never think about animals paying for their food. Yet, we have normalized the idea that our food system is built and run by big corporates making insane amounts of money whilst we work more hours every day just to buy something to eat. Yet, the little bird sits on its birdhouse and mocks me and my culture for commodifying a basic need.
The future is a funny place, the little bird tells me. It has been to the future, yet it flew back to talk to me. The future is filled with promise and food and hope. The soil is rich and life is teeming. Food is grown for all and everyone is happy because their stomachs are full. Incidentally, everyone has become a philosopher, because as the old adage goes, you cannot philosophize on an empty stomach.
But the little bird looks at me with a stern face: you need to act now because every day you stall is a day that future moves further away from becoming a reality. We reminisce about the future with streets lined with trees growing fruits and everyone's front yards filled with vegetables. The future is, as the little bird tells me, filled with opportunities.
Eat for free, the little birdhouse tells me and the bird. But this gets me thinking. The phrasing is already situated in an economic framework. The bird eats for free, hence its food is already worth something. X amount. We just do not charge the little bird anything. How have we all adopted this framework in which food has become inherently linked to some form of monetary exchange?
Alas, the little bird tells me to stop thinking about this. Grow some berries and harvest some spinach. Eat healthily and share with your neighbors. We are just like them, yet we collectively somehow came to the conclusion that we are different. We can share, yet we form groups in which we rather spread hate and distrust. We can live in abundance, yet we build ever bigger storage rooms to store away what we do not use. And collectively we all agreed at some point that we value that storage room, we collectively added value to something that should not have had value in the first place...
The little bird flies away and I am left with these strange ideas and conversations. Maybe I should not have had that extra glass of wine. Alas. The photographs are all mine, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron zoom lens. The musings are also my own. I hope you are well. Stay safe and happy birding!
That's a wise little bird. Great thinking and beautiful pictures :^)
Thank you so much my friend! Sorry for only responding to your message now. Hectic couple of days. Hope your week is going well!
No worries, I am doing pretty well. It's all a matter of focus, now ,more than ever :<)
That is so true! We can only really focus on our own response to things in life. Keep well, my friend!
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