I have just finished looking at a photo of a vulture and reading peoples comments about how ugly it is. In the photo, the bird is gazing back at the camera with a gentle inquiring look. I could see nothing ugly about this bird at all. In flight this bird is superb, so why doesn’t it get some of the praise that an eagle gets? Who decided this bird was to be denounced?
Are we influenced in our view of this bird, and others like it, because of their food source. Do we find something eating a carcase so appalling? If it wasn’t for the birds, animals, insects and other organisms dealing with a dead being, the world would be out-of-kilter. These habits are a vital link in the circle of life and death, in the processes of life on this earth.
This repulsion towards vultures is typical of the conditioned mind, which sees things in terms of black and white, good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Living and dead. Maybe people are simply frightened by death. Modern life is often far removed from the reality of life and death. We are able to accept that H2O comes in various forms – ice, steam, water – yet not able to accept that perhaps this can apply to living beings also. We fear what we do not understand.
Perhaps the answer lies then in gaining understanding of this world we live in.
