The Choice of Death

I wonder how many people will look at the title of my blog today and turn away from it? Some, I know, will find it depressing, and some will not wish to be reminded of death and that the choice of death is ours.

I I myself was reminded about our choices in death and that they are everywhere this morning, when I was out early to feed the birds. Coming round a corner of the house I came across a young blackbird lying dead beneath a window, already stiffening and bedraggled from the rain that was falling. It happens, very occasionally, that I come across dead or dying birds and animals for I live in the country, and each time I do I wish it well on its onward journey Home and if I can I move the body to a quiet place where nature can take over.

What was unusual in the case of the fledgeling was that it was the third time it had tried to die, each time by the same method. The first time, last week, I found it on a path, hardly breathing and badly stunned; I picked it up, breathed on it, and held it for a while before placing it in a safe recovery area, though sure it would die because of its condition. I was able to study the bird as I held it and noticed the markings on its feathers, spots and patches of white on its chest, and so when I came across it again in similar circumstances (for, amazingly, it recovered slowly and after several hours) I recognised it. Again, for a second time it survived, but this last time the impact killed it and the bird’s choice to die in this way and at this time was fulfilled.

I am always a little sad, momentarily, when I see a creature particularly at the beginning of its life on earth leave it, and in circumstances that often are violent, just as the loss of any child can be painful to the humans that loved it. For me, today, there is comfort in knowing that the blackbird has enjoyed a happy few weeks in a place of peace and sunshine; that it died quickly and in the way it wished; that its energy lives on here while its bird-soul lives on in another dimension; and that one day it will return perhaps this time to survive and breed for a full span of life. I will recognise it when this happens.