Freeconomy Blog
Thu
27 Mar
A tiny beak - a beautiful little tale...
| 19 comments |
I've been talking with a lot of the people involved in different positive movements over the last week, and for some reason there seems to be a lot of tired souls at the minute. Maybe it is the change of seasons. Maybe it is the fact that this world can be tough some times for those who want to make it a bit more beautiful. Who knows?
Either way it made me think about a beautiful little tale I once heard. I can't remember who wrote it or where I first heard it, so I'll do my best to relay it as accurately as I remember it. It may not be exact, but I think it captures the spirit. I call it 'The Little Beak' -
In a tropical forest in a land not too far away, a little bird called Peti practised the wonderful art of flight every day. Though the smallest bundle of feathers that dwelt there, she always sang the happiest song. Often, it must be said, to the annoyance of the bigger birds. “What’s she got to be so chirpy about” the larger ones would say, as they spent all their time looking for meals. But Peti paid no attention and she quickly became the fastest flyer in the land.
Then one morning at dawn the flames of a bushfire descended over the horizon. It spread as quickly as fear amongst the community of birds. All the largest ones wept at the imminent death of their home and fled. But not Peti. She looked it in the eyes. She knew she was small, but she had once read a book about a human called Martin Luther King Jnr. So, by herself, she flew off to a lake a few miles south and filled her tiny beak with water, flew back and dropped the water on the trees. The others scorned, what was the point, she should just help them flee. But Peti kept flying back and forwards, each time dropping another beakful of water on the raging flames. She knew it wasn’t much but it was all she could do.
But then something truly astounding happened. Just as her little wings were getting weary, the sky cracked opened and unleashed a tremendous rainstorm over the forest, quenching the fire in an hour. All the birds celebrated and soon returned to their land. Peti’s work had gone unnoticed though. Some thanked God for saving them while others put it down to coincidental geology. Peti didn’t care. She knew it was something she felt for a long time – that when you do something positive with your heart and soul for the good of others and the earth, there is some force out there – whether you call it Allah, God, Krishna or Karma - that returns your efforts one millionfold. Gandhi called it Satyagraha, or Soulforce.
So the next time you undertake any altruistic labour, remember this – whether you write a poem about genocide, plant a tree in your park or buy a local organic lettuce from your grocers around the corner, rest assured YOU ARE a hero.
You are all heroes, as diverse and multi-opinionated as you all are.
Lots of love x
Comment on this Post:
Philip Melancthon comments ...
Clearly if I never saw the sunshine then I wouldn’t mind the rain.
When everyone walks no-one will notice that you didn’t finish your walks.
When everyone speaks languages it won’t be important that you didn’t.
We could be heroes.
Just for one day.
cityboy comments ...
This website gets funnier and funnier everyday, you literally could not write some of these things, sometimes I sit at my desk and laugh out loud. The use of David Bowie esque lyrics in the above comment makes the whole thing evenmore surreal! i’m still waiting for the moment when its announced this is a hoax!
eric the fool comments ...
permit me, if i may, to throw my foolish spanner in the works.
much as i understand the gravity of the peak oil scenario, god knows his sirshness went on enough about it during our relentless marching (!) but i have a different view, foolish as it may be.
in the 60’s to 80’s we had the cold war, then BSE, theres been various dates set for when nostradamus fatalistic apocalyptic prophecies were going to come true, the last being 1994 i think, then the millenium bug, then the war on terror, then bird flu, i do believe from my little knowledge that the 2012 mayan prophecies are interpreted by some as the end of the world in a bad way too, and supposing that doesnt happen (like all the rest) we now have pea coil, coded in case the CIA are reading (!)
can you see a common denominator in all this, cos i can...........FEAR
to misquote a line from "Heroes", notice the canny reference to the funster cityboys "heroes" comment (!) "change the energy, change the world"
Bill Hicks , one of the greatest fools ever to walk the planet (!) had it right. change the energy, start living and spreading optimism, hope and fulfilling your dreams. love, accept, approve and forgive yourself and others exactly as you and they are. help others in whatever way you can, and "be the change you want to see in the world"
start to enjoy playing your masks, light and shadow.
this is how a fool would change the world
actually some girl called me jesus last night, she was a bit sloshed and was taking the mick out of my appearance, as i now have a bit of a beard to go with my long hair, due to the fact i gave away everything, including my razor, when i joined the doomed march of death (!) and i seem to have taken the mask she gave me quite literally, judging by my hysterical rantings of love and light above.
sorry about that, because i had decided i cant be arsed to save the world any more, i am just going to save me (!) and if people like how i do it, then they can do it too, if they wish
eric the fool
ps thanks swarse for teaching me the (!) as you can see i learn well my master (!!!!!!)
Anton comments ...
Excellent stuff, really liked the little story and know exactly what you mean. I love the positive message in it.
I’ve been following the website and Saoirse’s progress since about November. It was inevitable and indeed, probably necessary, that some negative criticism came his way, whatever he did.
I have a challenge to all the cynics. When your negative feedback starts to creep up on you, try to turn it into a positive. Go on, I dare you!! Negativity has held so many people back, for whatever reason, and stopped them from doing things. This is a crying shame.
It was wonderful when earlier in the blog people got so passionate that they started to insult each other, but when the futility of this was pointed out, people apologized. Within a few days they learnt something, they grew a bit. I ask you to challenge yourself to change your negatives into positives. I’m not saying, hey, you should only be saying nice fluffy things to Saoirse and the other people on this blog, just that you try to make a little positive progress. Good luck to everyone on their journey of life - YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE. I DARE YOU TO CHOOSE THE POSITIVE!!
Roxy from Romford comments ...
Thank you for this wonderful story Mark (or may I call you Saucy?). You are a truly amazing, incredible person and a real inspiration to the people who read this blog.
Some of things you have written connect with my inner being so directly I sometimes think you can see directly into my soul.
Like when you wrote: “Chuck a bit of unconditional love in a bowl, add a pinch of generosity and respect for all and then mix with the spoon of fun and this would be heaven on earth. And that is the core of my spirituality and philosofree.”
I just said one word – wow! A recipe for happiness distilled into one paragraph! You are brilliant!
If you don’t mind I’ve adapted the recipe slightly and added a sprinkle of warm cuddles and cooked it in the oven for 20 minutes at gas mark love. It comes out perfectly! LOL!!!
Sadly the men of Romford are more interested in football and beer than spiritual enlightenment and it is impossible to sustain a meaningful relationship here.
No sooner have you got the old Peruvian nose flute out for a medley of Andean folk dirges and they are off to the pub like a shot. And in my experience you are unlikely to ever see them again.
Despite my disappointments I’ll always have “room on my sofa” for someone like you, Mark, although if you insist on bringing Eric I’m afraid he’ll have to camp out in the garden as I already do more than my fair share for Care in the Community.
I know this conspiracy by the BBC forced you to abandon the pilgrimage, but surely you could still walk to Romford? I reckon it will take you about a week.
Alternatively (if this is allowed) I am prepared to send you the cost of an off-peak, Super Saver from Bristol Temple Meads. One way ticket only! LOL!!!
No doubt you are curious to know a bit more about me – although I won’t insult you by dwelling on shallow things such as physical appearance.
I work as a Hopi ear candle therapist and reflexology outreach co-coordinator for the diversity and community cohesion directive at Romford district council.
I despise capitalism as much as you do Mark, and I’d love to tell these horrid wage slavers just where to stick their six-weeks holiday and index linked pension.
But I tell you £50,000 a year doesn’t go far when you’ve got 29 hungry mouths to feed (that’s my cats, not children! LOL!!!)
In my spare time I am also acting chair of the Romford and District Mad Women’s Collective and I can tell you that your exploits have been the main topic of conversation at our meetings for weeks!
All the sisters have lovely big sofas, so you’d better build your strength up before heading our way!
And once we’ve got you here we may decide never to let you go again! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
Simplicity comments ...
Two good friends reminded me today of the importance of noticing, and most importantly, being thankful for, the good and positive things in life. I thank the universe every day for the fact that I am alive and healthy, but I realised that I thank the inspirational people around me much less often. I don’t know why. Perhaps I feel inadequate alongside them. Perhaps I feel as though what I feel and think are insignificant.
I realised today that I have been following this blog for months, and have never once given an indication about the extent to which Saoirse, Eric and the concept of Freeconomy have changed my life. I have read the negative comments that have been written here, and because of my faith in what Saoirse and Eric are doing, I have barely taken note of them. But today I realised that those negative comments not only supersede in number the positive, but they over-shadow them, because of the pure nature of criticism. I don’t want to live in world where the negative has more power and presence than the positive, and I now realise that it is my duty to ensure that it doesn’t happen. For too long I have been silent on so many issues that matter, because it is easier to be quiet and stand back and let someone else do the fighting, because there is always someone else out there who can say things so much more articulately than I can. But, as Gandhi said, ’whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it.’ So, from now on I will face my fear, and speak up more often.
This negativity that prevails is a sad reflection of the state we are in. Why on earth do we want to perpetuate that? By subscribing to the idea of Freeconomy, we are challenging that habit of negative thinking which is so deeply ingrained in us. Of course, kicking any habit is difficult and uncomfortable. So accept these negative comments only as evidence of shifting belief systems, as symptoms of the withdrawal from a poorer spiritual place. This is all part of the journey towards the better, happier world we all want. And surely on this point we are all united.
Through Freeconomy, I have come to realise that that beautiful place can exist, and we mightn’t be as far away from it as I once believed. So thank you Saoirse. Thank you for your light. I’m only sorry it took me so long to say it.
Saoirse comments ...
I bought an organic lettuce yesterday and then I wrote a poem about genocide. I feel that, in a very real sense, this has contributed to the well-being of mankind. Our currency, words like ’wonderful’, ’amazing’, ’light’ and ’love’ are just as tangible and real and life-changing as the NHS and public schooling and I know if we think hard enough we will find ways of funding these services through the hot air that we produce in the uttering of these wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful words. I’m so wonderfully grateful to all of you amazing people who are helping me remain humble and grounded, and I know that, in the creation of an art studio for a nice middle class lady, I have changed the world. It was wonderful.
Saoirse comments ...
PS. White Lightening is £1.49 for 5L down the local Spar. I tried to pay in light but they told me to fuck off.
Marie comments ...
I’m assuming that those comments above weren’t from the Saoirse who set up this community!
To whoever it was that wrote it, the reason that stories like the one in this blog are important, and the use of positive language, is because it uplifts people and helps them to remember that every time you undertake a positive action of any kind, you really are making a difference to this world, especially given that everything has a ripple effect.
Your (whoever you are) comments do nothing but bring people down. Where is the good in that? But I suppose when something challenges peoples consumerist way of life as much as this website does, you will always get those who want to bring it down and feel threatened by it. Humanity can be very immature sometimes.
I’ve been working for years caring for people and it often feels like it is really tough and you don’t always remember what the point of it is. This little story made me feel good all day yesterday, I suddenly had the zest for my job back and realised how important it was I gave my patients more love and care.
So thank you so much Saoirse (the real one) for such an inspiring story. And thank you to the negative person for giving me the kick up the rear end I needed to thank him. And not just for the story - but for allowing me the chance to meet lots of people with the same outlook in life up here.
Saoirse comments ...
Thank you for reminding these beautifully negative people that they are not one of us, they are separate from us beautiful beautiful beautiful lovely people. In their negativity they are contributing to the end of the world. We however, will be living on light Somewhere Else. The bad but somehow lovely Others have their role and purpose in life and that is to reaffirm for Us that we are better than them and that’s why we let them live.
Carers UK comments ...
Dear Marie,
We read with some concern that you are aware that you have been caring for the vulnerable people in your charge with less than optimal skill. As you will be aware, it is your responsibility to maintain your personal and professional development so that you offer professional care. Please stop reading sites such as these as a substitution for your accredited professional development.
avellana comments ...
I liked the story very much and it made me happy when I read it. I hope they won’t mind me saying this but Saoirse and Eric were ready and willing to walk from one part of London to another which was far away in order to help, even though the road that would have taken them on to the next part of their journey was very close by. This to me is selfless kindness in action.
I’m not saying that people shouldn’t make critical comments if they want to but try and remember that they’ve got feelings too and that the blog entries, the walk and everything to do with freeconomy, it’s all coming from a good place and a wish to make this a nicer, kinder world for everyone.
Nadia comments ...
No it’s not otherwise they’d do it without having to proclaim their goodness to the world.
N ;-)
dukeofrochdale comments ...
For some reason im addicted to reading this blog everyday, theres people who love Mark Saroise, theres P*** Takers, Mad Eric and i guess people like me, who sit at their computers a lot and loved the idea of a penniless walk to India and have been intrigued by the continuing saga. To be honest ive laughed lots at the p*** takers, cynics, Saroise, Eric and some of the followers of the cause and its made me think just a tiny bit about helping people out ’out of the goodness of my heart’ which i dont do that often. How goods that!. Keep going everyone! Saroise : Keep preaching, P*** Takers keep laughing, its all good.
PipD comments ...
Hey you beautiful human.
Where ther’s a will, there’s a way. I believe that there is a new will and by hook or by crook, we will find a way.
Don’t ever despair. What you do is so fantastic. I’m spreading the message. Sometimes it is hard because there are none so blind as those that will not see.
Love
Pip
eric the fool comments ...
thanks for the compliment duke ;0)
i probably am a bit mad , but then again its an insane world at times so i fit in quite well methinks ;0)
ive had a few people email me and it seems that some of them think that i am critical of his sirshness, which could not be further from the truth.
alot of my comments are tongue in cheek with a heavy dose of irony added in, but if you dont know me personally then it would be easy to mis interpret this.
i do have views that sometimes differ from saoirse, but we both have the same goal, and have had some great dialogues over the months.
i am eternally grateful that he invited me on the walk, i learned loads in that very short time, that i could not possibly have learned if he hadnt invited me along.
i now know and truly appreciate that all i need in life is shelter, good food and friends. anything else really is a bonus and i cant tell you how much liberation there is in knowing and feeling this.
i have even started cooking delicious vegan meals, although i still eat some non vegan stuff, as im currently catching up on my quota of mars bars that i missed during the walk
all this is down to his sirshshessness and his friendship.
hes a good guy, trying to create some good in the world, with a very very good idea of how to do it, and the ability to make it happen, by donating his own resourses to it.
whereas i am just a fool (thank goodness!)
TR comments ...
"I bought an organic lettuce yesterday and then I wrote a poem about genocide. I feel that, in a very real sense, this has contributed to the well-being of mankind." I take it that this comment is from the pretend Saoirse, not the real one. This is now becoming very confusing.......
