David Donnan

When I was in high school I can remember a bird flew into our window of our math class. We all a had a good laugh. We were high schoolers. It was a distraction. We were arrogant teenagers looking down on the stupidity of the bird. One of my friends would later act our the birds miscalculated flight by flapping his wings and running into the window. We were a mess.

A couple of weeks ago I was on a cruise. My wife and I where sitting and looking out at the port we were in when BAM! A bird hit the side of our ship at the top deck where there is mostly glass. Dazed and confused it fluttered down and away. As it turned around, it began to speed back toward the window. My heart sank. I could not believe it was going to make the same mistake again. I was rooting for it to turn back or at least somehow squeeze into a random window, but it did not. This time the mistake was fatal.

I couldn’t believe what happened. It pained me so much, but why? Have I really matured so much since high school? I hope so. I know my love and respect for all God’s creation has improved. Most of all, I think it is my sympathy and experience of crashing into problems we can not see, only to make the same mistake again and again…