"Once I heard a song of sweetness,
As it cleft the morning air,
Sounding in its blest completeness,
Like a tender, pleading prayer;
And I sought to find the singer,
Whence the wondrous song was borne;
And I found a bird, sore wounded,
Pinioned by a cruel thorn."
There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in it's life. More sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then singing among the savage branches, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in the heaven smiles. For the best is only brought at the cost of great pain... or so says the legend.
As I pondered the above poem and the story behind the thorn bird, I imagined a world in which we all acted in selflessness as the thorn bird does. It would be a beautiful world. Which led me to thinking of the ultimate sacrifice that this bird pays in order to save its young. It distracts the predator away from the nest and then impales itself on a bush made of thorns. I stopped in my tracks upon reading this piece of the legend.
How divine a love is this, that a beautiful creature of nature willingly offers its own life to save its young, not seeking fame or attention?
The bird somehow grasps the idea of sacrifice for the greater good: an idea that is so commonly preached in our society, but very rarely acted upon. Which led me to question, Does true altruism exist in the human condition? Or does man sacrifice for others with intentions of personal gain and attention?
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck did not disappoint in beginning to explain and answer my big question. Throughout the whole novel, O-lan is ready to make any sacrifice needed in order to obey to her husband Wang Lung. Stricken with poverty, and seeing the desperateness of Wang Lung to return to "his earth," O-lan offers to sell her daughter, whom she loves, into slavery. At the time meant giving her beloved daughter into a life of torture and abuse. O-lan's whole-hearted submission to Wang Lung and compliance with her moral duty is truly out selflessness and sacrifice without expecting anything in return. This is the heart of altruism.
Reflecting back to English Literature class last year, I remembered a fantastic article entitled "The Man in the Water." The link for this article from Time Magazine is: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925257,00.html
and I strongly recommend that you read it. It pictures an anonymous man, a hero by all measures, willing to give his own life in order to save countless others. This article alone instilled a strong, stirring hope in me, that humankind is capable of sacrificing all that they are. The most beautiful part of this essay, in my opinion, is that the man still remains nameless.
He is proof that no man is ordinary and that ultimately human compassion knows no limits... It's whether we have the true intentions and motivations to display this type of sacrifice that really matters.
