Heroes Not Zombies

A little white feather, caught in grass which has pushed up through the Tarmac.

i’m sure you’ve seen LOTS like this before, but, wait a minute. Don’t rush. Take a look at it. It’s  beautiful. It’s delicate. It’s strong. And it’s complex. What an amazing structure.

The way my mind works I look at this and I think about becoming……..how does a bird make this structure? How can one cell, fertilised by one other cell, double and double in numbers, then differentiate so that some cells become eyes, some become brain cells, some become legs and some produce feathers. And all in just the right places. I was entranced by my embryology lessons at university and this incredible process still fills me with wonder and awe.

And I think about how the first feathers appeared on the Earth. Were there many stages of almost-feather which eventually become feathers? Did they appear suddenly? One day there were no feathers on Earth, then the next day, there they were?

And then I come back to this particular feather. Where is the bird which grew this feather? Is it a swan? A seagull? Does it live around here?

And. Then I remember that Paulo Coelho, the author, says he starts to write a new book only after he finds a white feather, and I wonder which bird, therefore, created The Alchemist!?