Of empathy & love

Intelligence and empathy, traits once considered to be only human, is simply not true as researchers have seen these wonderful traits in elephants, cetacians, primates, dogs and birds like crows and parrots, sensitive creatures social to the max, attuned to each other to a degree never thought possible until now. In an extraordinary NY Times article by Charles Siebert titled What Does a Parrot Know About PTSD? we discover through his experience, that there is something truly special about parrots and their unique ability to connect with us at deep level. Note: It's just a partial list of life forms possessing intelligence to be sure.

Nearing Serenity Park’s exit, I decided to turn back and step inside Cashew’s quarters for a moment. I had only to nestle close to her perch and she immediately hopped on my back. Crisscrossing my shoulders as I had watched her do with Lilly Love, she stopped at one point for what I assumed would be the parrot equivalent of a kiss. Instead, she began to clean my teeth: her beak lightly tapping against my enamel, the faint vibrations strangely soothing. Immediately afterward, she took a brief nap in my shirt’s left breast pocket — it felt as if I’d grown another heart — then re-emerged and crawled to the top of my head. She strolled about there for a time before plucking out one of her own deep blue-green feathers and then descending to gently place it on my left shoulder. I have it still.

Read this piece in it's entirety, it may move you to tears. It did me, without question.

Kookie, a green eclectic.