We had a hummingbird fly into our garage a couple of days ago. At first I thought it was a large horsefly but the chirping sounds gave it away. Once there, despite the open garage doors, it could not find its way out. It instead kept trying to raise vertically, bumping its head repeatedly on the ceiling. I watched for quite awhile as it became tired and the feathers on its tiny head became ruffled and worn. I tried to chase and lure it out the door but it simply refused to see the light. Repeatedly, it banged its head against the ceiling. Finally, I was able to get it to land on a very large orange frisbee and then I carried it outside. Once outside, it raised up vertically in the air, flying high up and out of sight.

At the time, I felt frustrated for the little guy. I felt like I was really seeing first-hand where the term "bird brained" came from. But, as I thought about it, I admired the bird. This hummingbird could not see anyplace but "up". Amidst a situation of great stress and frustration, it always looked vertical, not out or down or within.

Wish I could be like that.