Posted by Pinky.

Yesterday afternoon Bunny and I were wandering around a school campus, just passing some time before a meeting we were going to got started. We were walking under a tree when I heard a sound - pat!

Bunny: Hey, that bird just fell out of the tree.

It was a very tiny bird, looked like she had just hatched pretty recently. She was lying on the grass, not able to walk or speak.

Me: Do you think we should feed her?

Bunny: I think she's going to die.

Me: Maybe we can find a paper cup or a little box or something and put her in there.

Bunny: She just fell 20 feet onto the ground. I think we should prepare her for death. Oh, she's dead.

I looked at the bird again and she'd stopped moving.

Bunny had some napkins in her backpack so I put the tiny bird on some napkins and then loosely wrapped her up. I could feel through the napkins her body was still warm. The ground in the area is hard and sandy and we didn't have anything to dig with, so I just put the small bundle under a small pile of leaves next to the school building.

Me: Is this disrespectful?

Bunny: Worms and ants have to eat.

Today, out of the blue, I receive a postcard from my friend. It had a quote on it:

"Thus shall you think of all this fleeting world; a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream. ~ Buddha

I'd been wondering to myself why that tiny bird would be born into this world, only to leave just a few days later. But I suppose that’s all of us.

~pinky