RANDOM ACT OF METAPHOR: A WINTER EGRET AT MIMICO CREEK
Hmmm, does that Great Egret hanging out at the mouth of Mimico Creek on November 6 have a bad sense of timing or is it just a rebel?
It's not unusual to find a Great Egret at this location from May through October. They find the shallow bay quite to their liking. But by November they are long gone on their southward migration to warmer locales. Or at least most of them are.
I was pleasantly surprised to spot this Egret hanging out among the gulls, swans and sundry ducks in my swing through Humber Bay Park today. But then I began to wonder. Has its migration instinct short circuited? Has it contracted some avian disease which has rendered it to weak to make the trip? What a shame if it perishes here when the bay ices over.
But then another possibility occurred to me. Perhaps it is just a rebel. It doesn't feel compelled to adhere to the unwritten laws of migratory birds. I like to imagine it might express itself something like this.
Yes, I know I am supposed to be long gone by now. But I rather like it here and I'm not ready to leave just yet. Call me stubborn if you will. I'm used to others thinking I am odd.
The truth is my Maker was in a thoughtful mood when he created me and decided that I would be different. At first I found that troubling and tried to conform. But eventually I came to realize that I am who He made me and he wishes me to remain that way. So I follow my heart and it hasn't lead me wrong yet. Yes, there is a price to pay for being different but I pay it willingly now. I am who I am and proud of it.
A winter egret at Mimico Creek – a random act of metaphor for the courage to be who you are regardless of what others may think.
~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of "Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel" – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael's website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
~ Subscribe to "Michael's Metaphors of Life Journal aka Things That Make Me Go Hmmm" at its' internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2. Instructions for subscribing are provided in the "Subscribe to this Blog: How To" instructions page in the right sidebar. If you're reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly to my page for postings once a week.
