Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating

Is it okay to say that female birds are not as attractive as their male counterparts? Or does it make me a sexist? I can’t be sure. Because people pounce on others for saying things that they deem, personally, to be offensive. Context does not seem to matter. As long as they are upset, they will fight you tooth and nail over it.

But I like keyboard warriors, irrespective of their gender or the social cause they support. Generally, their English is good. For some reason, they smell nicer than the average person. And they watch interesting films. Some are passionate about fighting marginalization. Others try and assuage middle-class guilt through their actions.

I am unaware how much good they are doing for the oppressed communities. But it is sweet that they want to do anything at all.

I don’t have the right to demean any of their actions. I live an unquestioned life – unwilling to contribute a meaningful amount of time to stand up for others. Whenever I am in front of a mountain, I want to curl into a fetal position and cry myself to sleep. I feel dwarfed. Not just physically. It’s just that I feel that I am of little use to the planet or its people.

It’s why I hold on to my silver linings. I need them to smoothen the ebb and flow of such emotional transactions about the bigger picture.

Most of my silver linings have wings. Man, woman or child – every bird is precious and important to me. And it is generally agreed upon that male birds are more beautiful. Even though beauty – conceptually – is subjective. It is evident that they are more vibrant and colorful.

There are a bunch of theories about it. This one, from Quora, sounds interesting.

“When females do most of the work, expending more metabolic energy, then they are likely to be pickier about who they mate with. That makes the males have to compete for the female’s affections. Thus, males have no choice but to grow prettier feathers and do more elaborate courtship dances, just to compete with other males”

I hope this doesn’t make me sound like a man-hater. Or a homophobe. These are confusing times our planet is going through. And we aren’t making it any easier.

Hence, some time ago I decided that men are stupid. Women are stupid. And if I had met enough members of the third gender, I am sure that I would find them stupid too.

Because why must any of us escape the accusatory wrath of the planet? Isn’t it obvious what we have done to it, and each other? Our sub-classifications don’t matter. Gun, grenade or firecracker, we all detonate.

But, ladies and gentlemen, we are – after all – floating in space. Spinning guilelessly. We are not in control. And we are terrified. Therefore, it is crucial that we maintain civility and fairness in the way we treat each other. There are issues that need to be spoken about. We can’t sweep them under the carpet. Thankfully, there are people who talk about them honestly.

LG – curator of the Diptoe Blog and one of my favorite writers – had recently penned a post on how depravity of the human mind is no excuse for horrid behavior.

Read it, because there is just as much evil lurking near you, in human form, as there is love in the shape of birds.

(Photographs: Chennai, Pulicat, Vedanthangal, Valparai and Munnar)