Birds in Cages

Maybe men destroy beautiful things for the same reason they shoot birds. They admire them in the trees, and enjoy their beautiful feathers. But it isn't enough for some to just see them, and hear them sing. They would rather shoot them down, stuff them, replace their living breathing breasts with cotton and wood. They would rather silence them forever so that they can observe their beauty at leisure. But they don't understand that painted beaks and glass eyes can never approach their original state. They don't realize that the version they enjoy possessing can never replace the true beauty of a bird that can, when the fancy strikes, fly away…

Only slightly less cruel is the capture and keeping of birds in cages. They are creatures that are meant to fly, built to wander. To put limits on the gift of their wings is a crime against nature. To confine a creature that lives and breathes to hang weightless in the sky is nothing short of violent. To deny the wanderlust, to extinguish the carelessness, to withhold the freedom – that, perhaps, is more cruel than death.