Gimpy Pigeon

Are there parts of life that make you happy? -- I asked one of my friends who'd just had a terrible day.

"Oh sure," he said, "but they're the absurdities... the man at the deli who you never really talk to but he knows your coffee order by heart; the pigeon with the club foot down by the ferry..." and he kept listing other absurdities that are true especially in New York-- but he lost me after the pigeon. I interrupted him--

Sorry, but I have to go back to that pigeon. With the club foot. If you were that pigeon, you'd probably think your life sucked and was pointless.

"And it does and it is! Poor stupid pigeon."

But his life isn't pointless; he made you smile! Poor pigeon hobbles around on his club foot and probably thinks he doesn't make a difference anywhere, and yet he makes you smile every time you see him.

--
I used to be better at finding joy in the little things; finding something to smile about in the absurdities. I used to be better about remembering that everything happens for a reason and to find comfort in that. Maybe it's part of getting older; I just hope it doesn't mean I'm getting cynical... but I have a harder time doing that lately. I wish I could find that pigeon and somehow explain to it that its gimpy foot still brings joy to people's lives. I wish I could remind myself that my gimpy mistakes and shortcomings can still be used for good; that it's okay that my life isn't coming together the way I always thought it would or doesn't look like the lives of the people around me. That even if my walk is different it can still be encouraging to others whose paths I cross.