Pigeon Queen

Cynics and pessimists get on my nerves. You know, those who always look for the blackest feather on the raven, those who religiously watch the 6 o'clock news every day to listen to the anchor's sermonical tally of the day's tragedies, as if it were divine justification for their cowardly stance in life. What a curse it must be to live like that, doomed to a banausic quotidian routine in gray-scale.

I remember one day, during the time when I was taking a photography class. It was an icy winter morning: somewhere in the vicinity of -25, no wind, clear sky and bright sun shining. I was walking downtown in search of inspiration. As I came out of Starbucks, holding my large latte, I saw an old woman sitting on a park bench across the street. She was obviously homeless and not nearly dressed warmly enough. Her cold-stiffened fingers reached into a small paper bag and pulled out a handful of bread crumbs which she threw at the mass of pigeons surrounding her. In that instant of extreme altruism, she looked absolutely regal to me and I felt humbly privileged to have been the sole witness of such beauty. It gladdened my soul to see the smile on her face as her feathery subjects cooed appreciatively.

As soon as I got home, I excitedly related it all to my mother. I was about to explain how amazing I found that someone who probably didn't eat every day still set aside something to share with other living creatures but she interrupted me, as she so often does.

"Those nasty pigeons carry a lot of diseases. What a nuisance. The city should do something to rid us of them."

I stood speechless, my enthusiasm muted by her engulfing pessimism. I suddenly knew it was pointless to go on explaining. She would never see what I had seen. I turned around without another word and left to go develop my pictures.

I cherished those pictures for years. To everyone else, they were in black and white but to me, they were vibrant with the colors of all that is pure and beautiful in this world.

Wherever you may be, my Pigeon Queen, I will forever remember you.