Flocks

Pigeons at the zoo… Less pay attention

—Jig3125

I paid to see animals from around the world.

The first thing I saw?

A pigeon.

Really?

Of all the creatures on the planet…

A pigeon.

The one bird I can see for free on my walk to the corner store somehow made it into the zoo.

Nobody stopped.

Nobody pointed.

Nobody said,

“Whoa! Look! A pigeon!”

Poor guy.

Surrounded by celebrities.

Lions getting applause.

Gorillas drawing crowds.

Peacocks showing off.

Meanwhile, the pigeon is just walking around like,

“Y’all done?”

Maybe that’s life.

The rare gets photographed.

The familiar gets ignored.

We chase what we don’t have while overlooking what has been beside us all along.

Then again…

Maybe the pigeon prefers it that way.

No expectations.

No performance.

No exhibit.

Just free admission and dropped popcorn.

Who’s really winning here?

Sometimes I wonder if the pigeon is secretly watching us.

Thousands of humans paying to stare at animals.

From its perspective…

Maybe we’re the exhibit.

Less pay attention.

More notice.

You never know who’s watching whom.

— JIG3125