a bird's tale

once upon a time, there lived four birds in a cage. as chance would have it, two of these birds were gray in color while the other two were a lighter tan. though the four birds were cage-mates, they did not share a friendly relationship. in fact, it got downright nasty at times. specifically, the gray birds ruled the cage and would chase the tan birds around. every time a tan bird found a place to rest, a gray bird would fly straight at it and push it out of that spot. on and on this would go, with the tan birds flying from one place to another, only to be chased away by the gray ones.

then one day, one of the gray birds escaped from the cage. only one gray bird remained with the two tan birds. did this put an end to the bullying and pushing around? no, but it did turn the tables. now the tan birds chased the remaining gray bird around and the only place the gray bird could rest was at the bottom of the cage with all the droppings.

clearly there is a lesson to be learned in this flighty tale. birds of a feather, do indeed flock together and you reap what you sow, but sometimes life's lessons can be distilled to even simpler terms: don't be an asshole.