The Circle of Life

As a child I was whimsically educated about the way in which nature cycles by a song uttered on a cartoon African savanna. Disney told me that animals live and die in order to sustain the balance that is nature. It seemed that these brave animals died heroic deaths saving their friends and loved ones. I have encountered this circle in a small corner of NYC located just outside the entrance to the N train.

Comparatively speaking, this Circle of Life is like the trash-laden projects compared to Simba's lavish pad. The setting is that of a tall concrete wall on one side and a parking lot on the other. The wall has curiously shaped holes every 3 feet, about 7 feet up. These holes are always oozing some sort of liquid, and pigeons are always flapping in and out. I suspected that they used these urban orafaces as nesting places and my suspicions were confirmed when I spied eggs one day on my walk to the subway. I found it intriguing that animals can always make the best of their habitat, making a cozy home out of a cold stone structure.

It was after I started thinking about these pigeons and thier Astorian life-cycle, that the afore mentioned circle began to play out before my eyes. The first day my reaction was, "Ew, squashed bird" the second time I began to feel bad. Over the past three weeks, only 3 feet away from where pigeon parents nurture their young I have encountered three road-killed birds. Not only is it not pleasant to have to look at twice a day on my commute, it is a gruesome sign of the ill-effects that humans have on nature.

The circle of life takes into account death by natural causes and sustaining those higher on the food chain, but does it also apply to those creatures that can't evade the Goodyear tire tracks?

Perhaps I will write to Disney suggesting a plot twist in the next Lion King sequel. Simba and Friends: African Crosswalks Installed.