“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
Mark Twain (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)
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| Stride and Prejudice, a Short Story by Dan Mulligan |
At the onset of fall, a mockingbird was roosting in her nest on top of an oak tree contriving the plan for her forthcoming voyage towards south. She was so engrossed in her scheme that she woke up before dawn and sat there contemplating regarding all the elements that would affect her trip. “The wind could be turbulent on the course, which means I ought to rest at least every two hours; furthermore, the temperature begins to ploddingly increase as I approach the South so it is imperative that I stop by as many rivers as I can in order to gulp some water.” She was still examining her strategy as the sun began to rise.
Following the dawn, a shrike that happened to nest on another oak tree right next to the mockingbird woke up as the daylight began to infiltrate the breezy forest. As he stretched his wings he saw the other bird immersed in her own mind deeply pondering.
“Morning neighbor” said the shrike,
“Oh hi, good morning” responded the mockingbird,
“What is going on? You seem quite preoccupied.”
“Oh, I am just planning for my trip south; I am going to stay there for the next six months”,
“And why do you want to do such thing when you can stay in this marvelous place?”
The mockingbird gave a wide gaze to the surrounding and said, “Indeed, it is very appealing here, but only during spring and summer, I have already began to get the chills at nights even though we have not even reached the midst of autumn”, The shrike felt an immediate surge of patriotism gripping his every fiber of being and told with an austere inflection: “You are going to South? Do you know that our fathers all moved to North because they were already disgruntled by the bleak circumstances in the other locals? Have you forgotten that our ancestors constantly faced lack of resources back in the past whereas here we build our breeding-grounds at the top of the long oak trees and have sufficient space in our nests which allows us to extend our wings freely? Can you find such reign in South?” The shrike commenced raising his voice as he ended one sentence and started another.
“What is all the temper for?” incredulously asked the mockingbird from the shrike;
“Because you are disregarding this lush land of ours and travelling to South, this is our land, and it has been like this for as long as we can recollect”,
“But I thought that all the birds that live in this forest originally come from the eastern shores?”
“Who told you that? I am a pure Northerner and I am certain that my family and grand-parents were just like us, seriously though, what makes you think that we come from the east?”
“In one of my trips east, I saw for myself many of our kinds; as a matter of fact they had been there long before North was populated by us”
The shrike who got clearly mad at this point simply responded harshly: “Listen; you can defect to the South, but I do not allow you to discredit our fine land, North is the best place in the whole world and you obviously do not deserve to enjoy its full benefit; I am going to stay here all year long to relish my dynasty”
“Are you positive that your dynasty is really here? How do you justify staying in this area during the freezing days of fall and winter? I was lucky to get a cold last winter, you were the one who suffered from frostbite”
The shrike could not find a good response, after all he could not deny the frostbite; in this way he merely asked another question instead of giving an answer: “And do you really think that your dynasty is in South?”
“I do not care much about dynasty since I cannot remember choosing my birthplace, I cannot ignore the fact that our ancestors were actually from east, and most of all, I recall very distinctively that last winter here I got sever cold and I do not intend to experience the same misfortune once again, that I know for a fact”.Given that the shrike did not have as much information and his anger was mounting by the minute, he simply decided to fly off of his nest without saying anything else.
"I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world."
Eugene V. Debs
Later that day the mockingbird began her journey south, eventually after long days of flight and rest she finally arrived at the South; the warm ambience south made her so overjoyed that she launched into singing in the southern style; a phoebe heard her chant and got closer to see who is singing this beautifully in southern style. The phoebe was initially surprised as his eyes were laid on the mockingbird. Seeing her feathers, the phoebe instantly realized that the crooning bird must come from The North.
“Your southern singing style is so natural for a northerner” The phoebe said interrupting the mockingbird’s serenade.
“Oh hi there, thanks for the compliment, yes I can sing in both northern and southern style, I hope someday I can learn to imitate the eastern style as well” responded the gleeful mockingbird.
“What brings you to the South?” The phoebe asked curiously,
“Well, I am going to stay here while the North is experiencing fall and winter”
“How come you do not want to stay here all year long?”
“Because fall and winter in South collides with spring and summer in North and for me spring and summer are more important than the actual place”
“You know that our falls and winters are much hotter than North, besides we southerners have the longest history and the richest culture among all the species of birds” said the phoebe trying to sell a culture that he did not own;
“That is true, but the trees here are not as tall as I like them to be, also I have heard there are so many hawks in South”,
“If the South is so bad then what in the world is the reason for coming all the way to South?” demanded the phoebe with prejudice,
“I never said here is bad, as a matter of fact there are plenty of things that I love about this place, yet I prefer to be where I am happier, and given how much I love warm whether there is no better place for me than the South at this time of year.”
"A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbors."
William Ralph Inge
The phoebe finally told the mockingbird with a frank tone: “Down here we do not hang out with those who are different from us, we are proud of our history especially given that one generation after another, we made these lands our property”
“What could you possibly be proud of?” asked the mockingbird, “you were not even alive when hundreds of years ago the new breeds of birds settled in this area?” she finally ended her statement by rhetorically asking: “I thought we are supposed to be proud of what we have accomplished not what was accomplished by someone else many years ago?”
“When I say I am proud of my lineage, then it means you should damn well comply, listen, if you do not want any trouble around here then you might as well respect our heritage”
“I certainly do respect your heritage, but I thought that your ancestors came from the west and settled here?”
“What is your point?”
“I mean your land could be the West as much as the South, or even the whole world for that matter”
“Listen” the phoebe was trying to utter something but instead found himself unable to respond, he then tried to jump to other branches in order to go back to his nest,
“Why do not you fly?” asked the mockingbird
“My wing was broken last winter” answered the phoebe with a sense of disgrace,
“Let me guess; the tree where your nest was rested was cut by a logger, you then fell on the ground and broke your wing?”
“What makes you say that?” responded the phoebe with a surprise on his face,
“I did not know that, I just guessed. Although I know the fact that the humans around here are farmers during spring and summer, and work as lumberjacks during fall and winter”
“How did you know that?”
“Well, it does not matter how I knew that, in the end that is why I only stay here during spring and summer”
"Let us have but one end in view, the welfare of humanity; and let us put aside all selfishness in consideration of language, nationality, or religion." ~John Comenius, 17th century philosopher
