First Impressions

Joe and I love going to the city of Morehead City on North Carolina coast. It's an old town on the inlet with shops to poke around in, docks stroll on and view the ships sailing in and great seafood.

On one visit, we stopped by the public docks to watch the sunset. It was bright but rather cold. We shared the parking lot and dock with only a flock of seagulls. They didn't seem to be very interested in us (we obviously had no food) and we were rather thrilled to just walk among them. Joe made some reference to "The Birds."

Then Joe noticed the number of birds with only ONE LEG. Dozens of them! Hopping around but not flying off. It was almost like they were stuck to the ground. We wondered, was this a North Carolina thing? Were we at a bird sanctuary for injured fowl? We had never seen so many one legged birds! Should we ask someone? Report it?

Then one bird within a yard or so of us, slowly lowered a leg that was tucked up under it's feathers and retracted the other. Joe and I just looked at each other with a rather dumb expression that said "good thing we didn't say anything to anyone else."

I still don't know why the birds did that (and if you do know, don't feel like you have to tell me.) It did teach me something about first impressions. A lesson I continue to learn. I thought about the birds the other day when I ran across a quote by Plato (not someone I quote often.)

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

I am not sure what battle the birds were fighting; maybe cold, maybe lack of comfort. I do know I am glad to have walked among them and enjoyed their company.