There they were – Perry and Penny – two pigeons perched on the precipice of a pergola – when, out of the blue, Perry said to Penny, “You know what?”
Penny, appearing somewhat puzzled, replied “What?”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about today,” said Perry.
Penny, still confused, asked, “What makes you say that?”
“Well,” said Perry, “Thanks for asking!” (He couldn’t wait to justify his gloomy forecast.) See, yesterday was a bad day…I messed up and left the nest later than I planned…and missed out on all the good berries and insects in the park. By the time I got there, those other greedy pigeons had eaten them all.”
It was right then that Penny began to suspect that Perry had been hanging around in the park near humans so long that he had begun to pick up their ways of thinking.
Penny knew the only reason Perry would feel the need to forecast the future as being imperfect would be if he had ever considered that anything in the past was imperfect.
What is one pessimistic story about the future that you, like Perry, have been telling yourself? (We all have at least one. 😊 )
How has the past influenced that forecast?
Pigeons, with the exception of Perry, are not able to consider that anything in the past (including themselves) was not perfect. Therefore, they aren’t able to be pessimistic about the future.
Pigeons intuitively know that the evolution of their species is a time-consuming, never ending process and, therefore, at any given point along that timeline, they are perfect right then and there, playing their role in the evolutionary process perfectly.
As a result, pigeons know the only question to ask, all day, every day, is: “And, now, what do I want to do?” “And, now, what do I want to do?” “And, now, what do I want to do?” “And, now, what do I want to do?”
Well, every pigeon except Perry.
P.S. Stay tuned…the story continues next Tuesday.