The inspiring words of a Sparrow from Cape Verde

As many of you already know, I got married recently, and traveled to Sal Island, Cape Verde, for my honeymoon. I also posted here recently, saying I would tell you guys about a few meaningful encounters I experienced with the animal kingdom while I was there, so here's the first one: Sparrows. You won't find many birds in the island, but there are lots of sparrows. They live mostly around hotels and bars, which is easily understandable as tourists turn out to be really messy eaters (giggles).
One day, as we were standing by the bar terrace, a man placed a plate full of bread on top of a table and left. A few moments later, a few sparrows spotted the bread and decided to grab a bite. Honestly, I thought the man would chase them away as soon as he noticed they were eating his bread, but he didn't! He stopped right by us, shrugged and smiled. He instantly earned my respect by doing so. He waited for about ten minutes to go and get his bread back, shrugging again and whispering "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." 

A few moments later, a young sparrow approached us and gently asked: "would you please be so kind and share a few crumbs with me?"
We glanced at the polite bird for a second, before subtly placing a few crumbs (it wasn't allowed to do so) on the table. It took him about fifteen seconds to jump over the table and grab the first crumb. After swallowing it, he rubbed his tiny beak against the wooden table, looked at us and said: "Thank you so much for your kindness!"
I exchanged looks with my husband and smiled. I said: "You're really polite for a little bird!"
He chirped and jumped around the table, getting closer to the next crumb. He said: "You see, we rely on tourists for feeding. It's just the way it is, and sometimes we are ignored or even chased away. But every once in a while, one of you notices us, and respects us. And for that we're thankful."
We both smiled, and I added: "There's enough for everyone, I guess!" 

He finished swallowing the next crumb, cleaned his beak again and got closer, as If willing to share a secret. He said: "Oh, it's way more than the crumbs... a lot of tourists leave us crumbs. But only every once in a while we get the chance to thank them back, because they don't know how to listen. For them, we're just ordinary, hungry birds. They (thankfully) help filling our bellies, but not our spirits. So when one of you really listens, there's when magic happens: for a moment in time we really connect, and become equal, complex beings. Along that moment in time, we are the same. And we evolve together, filled with the same light."





Vanessa G. Lourenço