At that age I suddenly realized that I was a tiny little nothing in an immense universe. Within a split second I learned humility. At that age we should have been building ourselves, our ego, but that experience destroyed my ego and self-image completely. It helped me a lot in my life because I know that I cannot assume myself to be any particular thing.
I went into a career which was originally my best hobby. You must have been given the advise that when you choose an occupation, choose what interests you. Now let me tell you by personal experience that it might not be the best advice. My hobby, the thing that I love so much, is now becoming my work, my job. But sometimes when everyone thinks that you are great, the only person that thinks you are terrible happens to be your immediate boss. Now I am in a difficult situation. If that job does not really interest you, you can just go away. But in my case, I like weather and stars, this was the best job for me, could I leave? I have lost that freedom to leave, because my hobby is now my job.
I realized that life could be very boring, so I began to look for new hobbies. Eventually I ended up seeing birds in the cemetery. Interestingly, the first time I saw birds properly was in the Colonial Cemetery in Happy Valley. It was like a lightning strike. Before that date I must have encountered birds every day, but on that day I suddenly realized that they are birds on earth. I suddenly have a new window into the world, the living part of the world.
I begin to realize that birds are like human beings. In spring, they court. Like human beings they build family, they rear their young kids, and if you approach their nests they risk their lives to protect their children, exactly as or even more than human parents. I had been misled by common beliefs and thought that we human beings were superior, that we were the only intelligent species that were capable of thinking, loving, caring and sacrificing. But I discovered with my own eyes that birds are no inferior to human beings when it comes to loving your partners, caring about your children, and coming together as a group. They mutually support each other that they manage to travel enormous distance. Don't have too much pride in being a human. Be humble. We are only one of the many species. My encounter with birds and stars has taught me one thing: humility. We are only tiny little nothing in the immense universe, while we are also part of it that makes this world work.
