Ta'ayush

We have a visting parakeet. We have named him/her Ta'ayush...Arabic for "life in common". We named our parakeet Ta'ayush in honor of the Jewish/Arabic group that is established in and around Jerusalem to help bring down the barriers (physical, emotional, mental) that surround them...and as a reminder that many of the conflicts in all of our lives can be avoided and resolved through one on one respect and interaction with eachother. Compassion can be a powerful force.

Yesterday as we celebrated our annual "Thanksgiving After Thanksgiving" celebration we had the opportunity to spend the day with over 50 people..of various faiths or non-faiths..and then our parakeet came to visit. When I was a child (in Japan) I was told that if a bird appears to you, you must keep it and care for it.

Ta'ayush (the bird) appeared as the boys and friends were playing soccer. After more drama then necessary..like the boys climbing a tree to "catch" the bird that sat on the ground and watched them climb..16 year old, Galen, proudly holds Ta'ayush and says..."I think he's hungry..he/she/it is eating my hand..hey, ow that hurts". Brian took the boys to the Antique Mall and they found a small cage for the bird. We decided to place the bird on our dresser, however Shadow (our dog) seemed to think that maybe she should eat Ta'ayush. We have placed the cage on top of our antique coke machine in the living room. Ta'ayush is happy now. He/she has spent the day chirping away as we read Perelandra.