A sign from the God(s)?
by Michael Kane
9-11-23
On Labor Day of this year a white parakeet with blue markings flew into my backyard and tried to compel my family to adopt him/her.
I saw it out the corner of my eye through the window drinking water from a kiddie pool setup for my children to “party” in on the unofficial last day of summer, but assumed it was likely your average sparrow (or what have you). When the kids were all bathing-suited and ready for the water we walked outside and the white parakeet flew past the knees of my oldest child hiding quickly in a bush.
I got down on the floor to look at it and saw for the first time it was a white parakeet.
A little research revealed there was no bracelet on its ankle – so it was not from a store. There are some “wild” parakeets in New York but this did not appear to be such a bird. It felt domesticated though it’s wings were not clipped. The bird walked right up to me and tried to hop up on my knee!
“Don’t touch it! It may have a disease,” said my wife.
It felt then, and still feel now, this was a sign.
It was the evening before a very significant day for one of my children, it was less than 2 days away from a significant court date for myself and NYC Teachers, and it was Labor Day.
Matt Conor from Bravest for Choice had been bugging me for a week that we HAD TO get back out in the streets of NYC for the Labor Day Parade, which happens the Saturday after the American labor day holiday. I think the bird sealed the deal for me that I was definitely heading out to the parade with NY Workers for Choice (Teachers for Choice, Bravest for Choice, Finest for Choice, Strongest for Choice, Court Workers for Choice, Educators for Freedom, Cops 4 Freedom, and Medical Professionals for Informed Consent)
The bird definitely brought me some magic last week:
- My son’s special day was VERY special!
- We (half-way) won in court just two days after I saw the bird
- I was on Fox & Friends national news the morning of the NYC Labor Day Parade
- The NYC Labor Day Parade was a wild success for us! And,
- I confronted Michael Mulgrew in a critical exchange at the parade
***
I was sad for days that my family did not adopt the parakeet.
I tried.
After the bird just wouldn’t leave our backyard for hours I ran to the store and bought a bird cage. When I returned with the cage, some parakeet food, and blue paper bird litter, the white parakeet with blue markings was gone.
(The parakeet made me think of a friend of mine who is a long-time bird lover himself – Bobby Kennedy)
***
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