From the Doolittle Chronicles
The sun was bright that Sunday morning, and I took a walk down to the lake in hopes of hearing the Choir of the Cove, singing and praising while greeting others whom they had missed.
Which of course, they were.
I was not disappointed. As I sat upon one of the giant boulders fashioned as an easy chair after centuries of pounding by the waves, I was mesmerized once again by the melodies of the inhabitants of Doolittle.
They were all there, a lovely morning punctuated by the soft and melodious praises of the choir. The soft soprano voice of Boyette, the deep and throaty alto of Tatiana. Gaspar held the bass line with his velvety crooning, while the crisp baritone of other animals sang the melody.
It was while walking back to the house I came upon creature I had not met before, a friendly and chipper bird with bright eyes and glistening feathers that shown in the sunlight.
Her name was Ruby Red and she was a bluejay.
A bluejay with the name of Ruby Red? I giggled slightly so as not to offend.
Yes she smiled back knowingly, for this was not a comment lost on her, she had heard it quite often.
Yes, she said again. My parents were color blind.
It required no further explanation and I didn't ask for one. I was happy to walk along the shore while listening to my new friend chitter away. Every now and then she would land on a tree and preen herself, picking some of the dust or mites that had landed on her deep blue coat. She was beautiful.
Does such beauty come with a price? I pondered. For there surely would be those who would be jealous of the soft and feathery creature. But what to do about it? After all, you do not get to choose how you look when you are born. Certainly one can enhance a particular feature, while downplaying perhaps less than attractive ones.
It is also easy to fall in love with one's own beauty, to feel blessed above others, simply because you were born a particular color.
Maybe Ruby Red's parents weren't so far off in their choice of names.
We can always change the way we look on the outside.
It's inside we should continually work on.
And maybe become a little color blind ourselves.
