Our Prejudice World

I don't consider myself to be a prejudice person but today my eyes were opened. As I was walking today I saw a chicken in a tree hopping up branches. I don't recall ever seeing a chicken in a tree before. I may have without remembering, nonetheless, I found the behavior peculiar. I stopped and watched it for a while. I even tried to get a decent picture/video of it. A Caymanian security guard for the school the try was by asked what I was looking at. When I told him I'd never seen a chicken in a tree he laughed and said that it happens all the time. As we walked away he chuckled and shook his head. I may have even heard him utter "white boys" under his breath. I walked away thinking about this whole new world I just walked into full of all sorts of new and exciting possibilities. I also thought about turkeys.

Believe it or not, chickens are birds. Why should they not act as other birds and chill in a tree? They have wings and birdly desires just like any other bird? Why did I insist in my own mind to keep them grounded? It was a punch in the gut to me. Probably not unlike the men of America felt in the 1800's when they realized "Hey, women are people, too, and well, they want and deserve those same things declared in our constitution." And so it is with the chicken. All birds are created equal (some just taste better than others). I long for the day when I can see a penguin getting what's his and relaxing, pipe in mouth, in a tree of his own. Or better yet, him and his friends the emu and ostrich and the kakapo all chilling together at a table of birdhood.

I continued walking ashamed of my prejudice and to my disbelief I saw a tree in the distance full of many chickens. It was then that chickens in trees began to feel natural. Sadly, however, these chickens were not so keen on other birds in their trees as I witness several chicken belittle and gawk at an unidentified non-chicken.

Just the other day I had read in the newspaper here that the longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds. Long enough to get all up in a tree I suppose. Side note: The paper prints a small "Did you know?" box where it mentions random trivia facts. Twice I've noticed facts about chickens and oddly enough I remembered them (not unlike the only facts I remember from biology is that snakes have two penises that work in junction with a female's organs similar to a lock and key, preventing cross breeding). The other chicken fact was that a chicken uneaten can live up to 8 years. I wonder how long a chicken can live when it is eaten...

As I continued to walk my hyperactive mind got to thinking that I should make a blog entry. At first it was going to be simple, like "Hey today I saw a chicken in a tree and that is all". But then I got thinking about how I wouldn't have observed the whole chicken in a tree thing had I not been walking. Side note: My car is being fixed; hence the walking. So then I started thinking about all the things we fail to observe because we insist on driving and don't allow ourselves to slow down. This made me consider how much I enjoyed the beach earlier. I sat there enjoying the sun, the sand, watching kids play, watching a dog swim after a tennis ball (which made me really want a dog), girls in bikinis, and a book to read. Nothing MTV would be interested in-except, of course, the girls in bikinis-but certainly enjoyable. Eventually my mind slowed down enough to conclude that I need to walk more.