Encouragement

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There’s a peacock strutting his stuff up the road; parading his blue-green feathers around the cattle paddocks, showing off to startled people driving by.

I imagine American tourists (if they ever ventured down this way) would get out of their hired Prados and snap photos.

“Would you have guessed this bird is in the Aussie bush, Sierra?”

“They’ll so totally not believe us back home, Trey.”

When I first saw him I had already heard the bird was around, maybe a little bit lost from some-one’s back-yard. But to see him so close to the road, and not shy at all!

…Even I was surprised to see him open his magnificent tail feathers and circle around so I could get a good look. All around was pasture and gum trees, with just the small dirt road wandering through to its eventual demise down in the Rivertree valleys. I made like a tourist and took some photos to prove I had seen him, too.

As I got back in my car and drove home, I thought about the risk of wild dog attacks or even traffic accidents for this poor lonely bird – a feathered fish out of water. I considered ringing up the people who I presumed were its previous owners, saying, “Your bird is up the road, can you take him back to safety?”

Maybe even I could do the job, if they were too busy.

How would you transport a peacock in a car? Can you find a back seat long enough for a peacock’s tail? And what if he gets startled and tries to open up his feathers? The possibilities were a bit daunting.

After a week or so he disappeared and I worried about his existence. Then I heard the news that he belonged to a neighbour, only about a couple of kilometre’s away – as the peacock flies – and that he had a habit of taking off and returning on a regular basis. I also learned that his mate missed him while he was away and made a big fuss, calling and calling for him.

“Oh, how sad!” I told my husband Bruce. “How inconsiderate to leave his mate like that.” I wondered what would motivate a bird to leave his loving home to wander along a dusty roadside paddock.

It turns out that the peacock’s ‘mate’ is a mate in the blokey sense of the word – not a peahen, but another peacock. (So of course, they are just good friends.) And that explains why this purple-headed poser is roaming far and wide. Logic tells me that he is probably in search of a girlfriend, but what if he just wants to see the world? What if his garden at the end of tiny bush track is not where he wants to be? What if he wants his wonderful presence to be admired by more than just his owners?

About a month later, the peacock was back, in the same section of road. This time I had to slow down to let him cross the road in front of me. He took his time and looked back to see if I had paid attention to his shimmering feathers and brilliant colours. He tipped his little crown at me and called, “Co-oh! Co-oh!”
“I’m beautiful! Look at me!” he cried.

Rivertree Road is not exactly the Cunningham Highway but it is sufficient for getting exposure to a wider range of people. The traffic includes farmers, business people who live in the area, service vehicles, a school bus, weekend visitors and tourists. This is a big audience for a little animal.

I guess many of us can relate to the wandering peacock in some way. We might feel unappreciated in our work or home-life, and wish we could change things. We think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, a place where others will look at our skills, experience and personality and fall down in adoration. In our little Utopian dream they will really understand who we are!
But of course, we soldier on in our daily routine and accept the reality of the mundane. Even filthy-rich film stars cut their toe-nails and argue with their children.

There is no ideal world out there where our lives would be magically transformed into a scene from a Disney movie – birds twittering around us with flowers in their beaks, music playing as we do the housework.

On the other hand, if we want to be recognised for some ignored talent or personal quality, it doesn’t hurt to take a step and put ourselves ‘out there’ in a more noticeable way. There’s no point whingeing about a dreary life and all our dashed hopes, if we haven’t really tried to make a change. (Once you try to do something and it fails horribly, then you are justified in whingeing – okay?)

When I moved to this country town, I was pleasantly surprised to see all the community agencies and interest groups that I could sign up to. Joining some local clubs and doing volunteer work made a big difference in whether I felt completely insignificant or as if I was actually contributing to my new community.

There are lots of avenues to broaden our lives. It doesn’t have to be a major upheaval, but rather an adaptation of what we already do. (If we stopped watching tv for an hour and a half each evening, we’d have over 10 hours of extra time to achieve something significant!) It’s not that hard to leave our comfortable backyards to new adventures around the corner.

My point: when you feel small and unappreciated, just think of that gorgeous peacock on a quiet country road, strutting his stuff.


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"Each one, as a good manager of God's different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God." - 1 Peter 4:10 (Good News Bible)

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