Love Me Birds

"All was silent in the wood. Suddenly, out of the green, 'Love-me! Love-me! Love-me!' called the Love-Me Bird. There was no answer to her call."

From the Love-Me Bird by Joyce Dunbar.

This story of the Love-Me Bird by Joyce Dunbar was one of my favourite bedtime stories to read to my daughter. Desperate to be loved, the Love-Me bird flies around the forest singing the same old song 'Love-Me!' She fluffs and preens her feathers, acts helpless, plays hard to get and acts cool. She even builds a fantastic love nest but still no-one answers her call. Finally Shut-Eye the owl suggests she sing a different tune, 'Love-yoo-ooo!'

'But I'm a Love-Me bird not a Love-You bird' complains the Love-Me bird. 'Perhaps you can be both at once,' suggests Shut-Eye.

Television is full of examples of Love-Me Birds all desperate for love, fame, to be understood and accepted. Think Big Brother, think Apprentice.Like the Love-Me Bird they all fluff their feathers in different ways: Look at my body! Look at how cool or good looking I am! Look at how misunderstood I am! They jostle each other for the best position in the nest, damaging each other's feathers in the process and all the time singing the same old song at the tops of their voices, unable to truly hear anybody elses song. The morning talk shows are full of 'misunderstood' people desperately shouting out to let us know how badly they've been treated. These shows do contain extreme characters but I would suggest that their behaviour does mirror, in some ways society at large. We are all part of this "it's all about me generation". Obsessed with having the perfect body and looks and will undertake extreme surgery to achieve it. wanting the best house, more money, most successful career and will work all hours to achieve it. Yet despite all this attention grabbing behaviour there still exists a lot of unhappiness, loneliness and dissatisfaction.

Two of the greatest commandments in the Bible are about giving out love, not receiving it. We are told to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbours as ourselves(being able to love yourself-hmmmm, that's a whole other topic, not as easy as it sounds for some). For that reason one of the programmes I like to watch is 'The Secret Millionaire' for the sole reason that it tells you about people who are selflessly giving their lives to help others, often people who have been shunned or forgotten by society at large and often for no monetary gain but purely out of love for others.

If we could all follow Shut-eye the owls advice and sing a different tune, the 'Love-You' tune, might our world not be a much better and happier place?