Spread Your Wings

Categories: Uncategorized Jun 08, 2014

I once watched a documentary on cockatoos. It was about how brilliant these birds were; smart, beautiful, and capable of mimicking language. It was also about how cockatoos that are left in cages without attention, without interaction, and minimal exercise go insane. Literally, the mental health (and physical health) of these birds deteriorates to the point on insanity. Without interaction and exercise they just go "bat crazy".

Most "responsible" pet owners would not put their animals in a cage and leave them alone for days, weeks, or months. Most pet owners would consider this to be cruel and abusive. To not let an animal play and interact with it's owners, care givers, or other animals would be inhumane. It is no wonder a cockatoo goes insane if it is left in solitary confinement because it was made for anything but that.

But let's turn this wheel upside down. Many of us today do to ourselves exactly what we would not do to our animals. We intentionally isolate ourselves. We place ourselves in "cages", we get no exercise, we get no relationship, or communication/interaction with others. We are intentionally deteriorating our mental and physical health. If a "lesser" creature's health can deteriorate by neglect, what do we expect a "higher" creature's health to do if it experiences neglect?

Most of our problems (health problems) today are probably due to the fact that we are caged up. We occupy very small territories: chairs, cubicles, cars, bedrooms. We don't "get out". We don't communicate. We don't socialize. We don't enjoy relationships. We don't move. We don't play. We don't imagine.

Friends, the internet is a cage. Facebook is a false community. Instagram is a lacking imitation of experience. Twitter is not conversation. Bedrooms are merely closets. Chairs are simply solitary confinement.

We aren't too different than the cockatoo. If that bird was made for relationship and movement, you can bet your life that you were, too. Our world is getting smaller and smaller by the day. Our cages are growing tighter and tighter. Have you ever sent a text to your spouse who was in the same house as you? Would you rather tweet, text, or message someone instead of converse with someone? Would you rather watch youtube videos of parkour rather than getting outside and playing in your environment?

We are driving ourselves insane, we are deteriorating our brains and eroding our bodies simply by neglecting our design. We were all made for movement. We were all made for relationship; REAL movement and REAL relationships.

The internet is a part of our world. Chairs are a part of our world. But we made them, we should not let them make us. You cannot replace conversation with abbreviated words and winky faces. You cannot replace imagination with youtube videos. You cannot replace movement with solitary confinement.

When you were a child and you got put in "time out", was it not torture? How can we move from torture to comfort? Intentional solitary confinement is ultimately intentional self cruelty and neglect. It leads to insanity. It leads to death.

We need to set the "cockatoo" free. We all need to remember what it feels like to fly, to sing, to play and laugh with others. We were never meant to live in a cage.

---