The Tale of the Broken Leg Pigeon

I’ve always been big on allegory, and really as I go through life I’ve come to realize just how important allegorical tales can be.  So when I came across a pigeon with a broken leg in my apartment complex, I couldn’t help but study it.  Day after day I watched this pigeon’s progression with life.

I don’t know how this pigeon broke its leg.  Maybe it flew into a window, after all, its wing looked a little screwy.  Maybe it was just a runt and got picked on by the other pigeons.  Perhaps it tried the old fly-under-a-moving-vehicle trick.  I just don’t know, or if it even matters.

The first time I saw it, it was completely unable to do anything.  It couldn’t fly, it couldn’t walk, and was only able to move itself around by kind of flapping its wings and hoping it went the right direction.  By whatever divine reason, it found itself near a birdfeeder, and seemed to survive only by what the other birds dropped on the ground.  I don’t know about the water situation.  Maybe it just waited for the sprinklers to come on, or a thunderstorm to hit.  But there it was, just living.

A few days later I spotted the little guy again.  It seemed to have figured out the stand-on-one-leg thing, and was kind of able to hop around a bit.  Still looked healthy.  Pathetically it attempted to fly and land on a wrought iron fence as a car passed by, and kind of fell off – yes, I chuckled at its misfortune.  Sue me.   Landing on one leg just wasn’t in the cards yet I guess, but it did get off the ground, which was encouraging.

Yet a couple more weeks went by, and this creature I figured would just die, kept figuring out how to do stuff.  Fly to the top of the 3 story building.  Land and walk on one leg.  Food and water secured.  All of life’s minor details seemed to have been resolved.

 I keep hoping this pigeon will stick around, but at the rate its going I’m just not sure.

Here's the pigeon in the middle.  You can kind of see it's leg sticking out sideways
on its right side.

So to all the new craft brewers, bars, restaurants, startups and anyone else out there who can relate, don’t let a broken leg get you down.  You’ll figure out how to adapt and survive.  Yes, you’ll likely fail as many times as you succeed, but never let that deter you.  I’ll leave you with my favorite proverb:

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.

It knows that it must run faster than the fastest lion

or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up.

It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle

or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.

When the sun comes up, you better start running.

So get after it people - and don’t be afraid to break stuff.

Cheers!