The problem with people.....

.... basically is that they are not chickens.

Beware: this post is unedited, more like a stream of consciousness. I didn't want to write something structured and thought through today. I won't be offended if you don't read this. I'm just writing it to get it out of my system.

When I lived in New Zealand, I took care of quite a few chickens for a few years, and even though I did not have a good human friend to talk to, I always had the chickens, especially my dear rooster Frodo (who died last year, without my presence, because I had to move to the UK). Chickens are far more accepting than people. The chickens only cared about how I treated them. Nothing else mattered. Not the colour of my skin, not the colour of my eyes, not the colour or length of my hair. It did not matter to them whether I wore trousers or a skirt. They did not care about my religion, about my race, about my culture. They simply do not judge based on these things.

You can be connected to chickens on a different level. Most people will not understand this though. They only connect with the chicken as their dinner, and choose to ignore the suffering those poor animals have to go through so just that they can have some protein on their plate (which can be consumed via different sources - but why put effort into it, right?). They never ask themselves about what the chicken on their plate felt during his or her life. Not a single time.

To me, eating chickens would be like being a traitor to my friends. The chickens were there for me when no human would have been interested in listening to me or just spending some time with me for no good reason. I could just hang out with them without having to explain myself, without having to put on a mask, without having to pretend I am someone else. I often had a hen or rooster sitting on my lap while I was reading a book under a tree. What kind of human would sit with me like that without wanting to be entertained?

I haven't spent time with any chickens for a couple of months now, and I start to notice how it makes me sad. It's a different kind of loneliness. I don't have much of a social life, and am usually not too unhappy about it, I get along well enough with my own company, but sometimes I do wish I had someone who would be a more constant part of my life.
The problem is this: While people can be interested in you in the beginning, they will soon see your weaknesses, the sides about you that are not so good, not so perfect, and then they want to change you. I don't want to be changed by others. The only changes should come from within me, otherwise it's just fake.
My main problem usually also is that I turn up in people's life too late. Everyone already has enough other people in their life, enough friends, enough family, enough of anything. Don't even get me started on the looming Valentine's Day when everyone looks at you with pity in their eyes when you aren't one of the happy couples.

Anyway, I hope that once I have moved to the place where I will work over spring and summer, I will be able to explore more of London, and also visit some of the city farms. Maybe I could even volunteer on one once a week to clean chicken coops or something like that.

Kenny Wizz vs Navi vs Ben - Can there be only one #1 Michael Jackson tribute artist?

Last night, I have been to a place called Stevenage to watch a Michael Jackson tribute artist called Ben . He was one of only two UK tribute artists I found interesting and promising enough to spend money on a ticket, transport, and accommodation (it's too difficult to travel back home with public transport at night). Now that I have seen three different Michael Jackson tribute artists in person, I would like to write about what they have in common, what made each of them stand out, and then answer the question: Is there really a number one? Did one of the two UK tributes manage to do something Kenny did not do? If you have read my old writings about Kenny, you know that he's very special (at least to me). I will have a look at their looks, their energy during the performance, the song selection, the costumes, the singing (or lack of it), the moves, the band & the dancers, the overall feel of the concert, and the meet & greet after the shows. In

Seeking and finding motivation - It needs to come from within

I have known for a long time that motivation is something that needs to come from within yourself. At least genuine motivation needs to come from within your own soul - it is the only kind of motivation that will last. Even though I have known this, I found (and still find) it very hard to keep myself motivated, to keep the spark within alive, to not let the world and the people in it kill my dreams. As a writer, I also read a lot. Most books are dedicated to other people, or have some sort of acknowledgment page where authors thank people who support them, people who keep them going, people who motivate them, and so on. For a very long time, I have wished I would have people I could use for these pages. I was wondering whom I would dedicate my books to, whom I would thank. But I could only ever think of fictional and/or famous characters. In real life, there is nobody who supports me with my writing and shows a genuine interest in my ideas or progress (of which there isn't that

Why work harder when there's no reward at all?

I am rather demotivated at the moment. Why work harder than other people if other people in the end get more for less work? Two volunteers who work a lot less than I do (also as a volunteer) get taken to see a castle this weekend, while I have to work. One of those two is being taken to the second castle. He's been taken on a day trip before. While I have been here since November and haven't been taken anywhere once. Usually, volunteers work five hours a day. But because I am really committed to the animals, I usually work six hours, often seven or eight (as a volunteer, so it's not like I get any money for extra hours). So I work more, but get less in return. How is that fair? It's just my life. I often put in so much effort into things, but get nothing in return. I feel like giving up. Why be reliable and hard working if it's just taken for granted? Why put in more effort when people who slack get all the rewards and extra attention?

AnonymousApril 3, 2015 at 11:57 PM
I love this concept of "unedited". No corners, no hard edges, just a soft, continuous flow.
Chicken don't try to change you, there is no chance anyway, it is easy to see. It is more diffcult with people, they think you are the same, and that you ought to be the same.
The only way to contribute to the life of the chicken is by remaining human, we could not do anything for them if we were chicken too, we would be lost.
We humans think, that we can contribute if we fit in, but on the contrary, the only way to contribute, if we are who we are, and enrich the world by being different.
Then we are stuck, we are paralysed, in a world expecting us to fit in, against our will, to be free, to be ourselves.
We think we become rich, if we do a lot of things, if we change things, but actually, the fastes way to become rich is by doing nothing, just listening, perceiving, absorbing, accepting what is already there.

Spirit of the River

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