Sparrow

Sometimes I can relate to a sparrow, can't you?

I'm not remarkable, really, just a common, variety house-bird.  Sometimes it seems that we're so common and like one another that our chirpings are indistinguishable and our markings and coloring are quite average -- just like everyone else.  We're part of a big flock yet no one carries us -- we have to take to the air with our own wings, so to speak.

I've long wanted to embark on a project to help people see that although we humans are common to one another in so many ways, each one of us has equal value and a unique purpose. I believe that women and girls especially tend to dismiss our value so we don't seem prideful or arrogant, yet in the process of striving for humility, we clip our own wings and never go on the adventure that's before us. 

Perhaps it's a protective mechanism to diminish oneself before anyone else can inflict that upon us. But, I want to tell you, whomever you might be, wherever you might be -- YOU ARE VALUABLE. YOU ARE VITAL and you have a message to share with someone who needs to hear it.  Perhaps it's your babies or your neighbors or some random person in the aisle at Target. 

Perhaps it's yourself. 

Flap those wings, sing that song -- don't miss it.

Sometimes I express this in art, in addition to writing. It's not fine art, for I'm not trained whatsoever. But I've found that as I'm engaging in the art of expression, whether it be writing, collage, drawing, cooking love into dinner for my family or enjoying conversation over mugs of coffee, I am practicing the art of using what I've been given to sing out the message of hope -- I am flapping my wings, balancing on the thin stretch of twig between terra and air, I'm feeling the rush of air on my face. I am vital because I'm learning to not be afraid, I'm learning that the art of trusting is connected to the art of doing.

(in progress)

I found a poem by Victor Hugo that inspired the above picture but more importantly better communicates my message today:

"Let us be like the bird, for a moment perched

On a frail branch while he sings.

He feels it bend, but he sings his song,

For he knows that he has wings."

So fellow Sparrows, Let us be like the bird for a moment perched on a frail branch while we sing....