Written by Colleen Houck
Although the world is full of suffering,
It is also full of the overcoming of it.
Helen Keller
Dedication
For all my animals
Hoppy was a little canary.
She didn’t live very long.
Even by canary standards.
She never built a nest.
Or became a mom.
She never had a mate.
Or sang a beautiful song.
In fact, Hoppy never even made it to her teen years.
If canaries have teen years.
But that doesn’t mean that Hoppy wasn’t a very special bird.
She was.
Or that Hoppy didn’t have an extraordinary life.
She did.
Hoppy wasn’t particularly beautiful.
In fact, she was rather average-looking, for a canary.
What made Hoppy different from the other canaries was her left wing.
But that wasn’t what made her special.
When Hoppy was born, her left wing was dislocated.
That means Hoppy couldn’t fly.
You’d think that would be very sad for a canary.
But it wasn’t.
Hoppy learned to follow her parents and siblings down from the nest to the food at the bottom of the cage by hopping carefully from perch to perch.
Then, when the other canaries began to fly, Hoppy was very brave and learned to trust people.
She’d hop, hop, hop from a perch to their fingers and then ride around on their shoulders, which meant she always received the best treats and had great adventures.
When Hoppy saw all the other canaries soaring to the top perches in the tall aviary, she decided she wanted to reach the same heights. Using ropes, and swings, and sticks, and ladders, she hopped and hopped and hopped and…
Fell.
Soon, Hoppy’s tail feathers broke.
She tried again.
Hop, and hop, and hop, and hop, and then…
Fell.
This time, the tips of her wings broke.
But Hoppy got up again.
Finally, after weeks of trying…Hoppy’s legs grew stronger, and ladders and ropes had been cleaned and moved to just the right places. Hoppy looked up and up and up and set off again.
She hopped, and hopped, and hopped, and…
She made it to the top!
When Hoppy finally made it to the top perch, she was thrilled! Clicking her feet in a little dance, she sharpened her beak and took in the view. She stayed a long, long while, resting as the others came and went, came and went.
All too soon, Hoppy became thirsty and hungry. She looked down, down, down at the bottom of the cage. The food and water bowl were so very far away.
She realized then that hopping up was the easy part. Hopping down would be even more difficult.
But Hoppy was a very brave bird. She wouldn’t give up just because something was hard. Closing her eyes, she leapt, opening her good wing and hoping for the best.
Hoppy’s fast fluttering slowed her descent a little, but her tiny body hit the bottom of the cage a bit harder than she hoped. She lay there stunned for a few moments and felt a few more of her feathers drop away, but she soon got up, drank and ate her fill, and reflected on the thrill of attaining her goal.
She’d done it!
The next day, she began her ascent again.
This time, unknown to her, she was watched by a war veteran in a wheelchair.
He cried when she reached the top.
And then cried even harder when she plummeted back to the bottom, ate, drank, and started the climb again.
Every day, Hoppy made the long, long journey, never tiring, never giving up.
Pain didn’t stop her. Neither did a cloudy day. She wouldn’t budge when a bully tried to push her off the perch.
Even when all her tail feathers were gone, leaving only a stump of a tail, and causing her a difficult time with balance, she still managed to make it to the top.
Every day the brave little bird kept climbing.
Hopping…
And hopping…
And hopping.
No matter how difficult.
Until one day…
Our tiny bird hopped for the very last time.
Her poor body gave out, as all mortal things do.
Or perhaps…
It was simply time for that stouthearted soul to fly.
Houck Hollow 